Clouds on the Horizon 2: Countdown to Armageddon
by Jerathai
Summary: Jake and Neytiri are new parents, the scientists remaining at Hell's Gate are staring extinction in the face, the Ikran Clan of the Eastern Sea is bracing for invasion, and the RDA would rather see Pandora destroyed than face life without unobtanium.
1. Promises Kept

Neytiri and her son rested in their sleeping-space for a couple of days after the baby's birth. On the third day she resumed her normal routine and accompanied Jake down to first meal. The sleeping infant rode in the child-carrier that his grandmother had made, snug against his mother's warm body. The little family walked slowly down the center spiral trunk of New Hometree, out of consideration for the still somewhat sore new mother.

They entered the main eating-space and were greeted by an impromptu round of cheers when their fellow Omatikaya saw who had arrived. A number of Na'vi came over to congratulate the new parents and check out the new clan member.

Neytiri's best friend Janni was in the lead, almost bouncing in her happiness, "Come! Sit! Let me see him! Oh, isn't he cute? Here, sit down, let me hold him!"

Jake grinned at his mate, "Careful, she might not give him back!" He went to get them something to eat while the women gathered around and exclaimed over the baby.

The clan's senior hunter, Sir'tey, was assembling a meal from the available dishes for his own mate and children when the Olo'eyktan arrived and he congratulated the new father, saying, "It is a great honor to have Eywa entrust one with the care of one of Her precious children. Your son is fortunate; he will learn a great deal from you as he grows."

That comment hit a sore spot with Jake. "As long as he learns the right things," was the marine's subdued and worried reply.

Sir'tey laid a comforting hand on the younger man's shoulder for a minute. The clan's senior hunter, who had grown up with Eytukan and been his closest friend, had taken the former dreamwalker under his wing after Jake had transferred to his avatar permanently. He'd managed the Omatikaya's hunter-warriors while the marine adjusted to life as a Na'vi and had taken on the duties of Jake's second-in-command and liason so smoothly that there'd been hardly a hiccup in the clan's day to day routine. He was the closest thing to a father that the marine had, and Jake had enormous respect and gratitude for his mentor.

The hunter was well aware of the new Olo'eyktan's reservations. He was one of only three Na'vi (the other two being Mo'at and Neytiri) who knew how much Jake agonized over introducing the least bit of _tawtute_ knowledge and custom to the People. He remembered the younger man's reasoning even as he gave the new father a sympathetic glance.

"I don't know where the Sky People went wrong," Jake had said in one of their late-night meetings. "There isn't any one thing I can point to and say 'This is what started the insanity. Anything before this is safe and everything after this is bad.' Sir'tey remembered the haunted look on the former dreamwalker's face as he'd concluded "All I know is that the way of the People works. The way of the Sky People doesn't. I don't want anything to jeopardize the Na'vi. I'd rather forget everything about the _tawtute_ life I used to live than allow it to contaminate the Omatikaya."

Mo'at had consoled her daughter's mate. "You are what you are, and the Na'vi need what you are. Eywa made you Toruk Macto for a reason, Jake. If you had not been born _tawtute_, the Omatikaya and the Tree of Souls would be dead now, and the rest of the Na'vi would soon have followed. We will need your wisdom when the six and twelve year ships come if the People are to survive. " She'd given her son in law a significant look, "Allow Eywa to guide your choices and your actions. She knows what is good for the Na'vi and what is not."

Sir'tey understood Jake's reluctance and wholeheartedly agreed with it. It was certainly something that no Na'vi father had had to deal with before. "My ears are always open for you, my friend." The hunter lightened the mood with a chuckle, "And I will be happy to tell you tales of all the different ways that little-tails will still manage to get themselves in trouble!"

The new father had to grin a bit ruefully in response; he'd already heard a number of aggrieved parents' stories (not to mention been the indirect cause of a few) about their mischievous little ones, and had no doubt that what had seemed hilarious at the time was going to be much less so once he became the main focus of them.

He finished filling his leaf-plate and brought it over to the spot where he and Neytiri customarily sat. Mo'at had claimed her grandson and was happily displaying the boy for all to see.

Jake was privately glad to see his mother-in-law's obvious delight in the child. He and Neytiri had both been concerned for the clan's Tsahik. He couldn't imagine the pain Mo'at endured as a result of Eytukan's death, couldn't imagine how he would have the strength to go on living if he ever lost Neytiri. There were a number of Omatikaya who had lost mates when Old Hometree had fallen, or in the battle at the Tree of Souls. Some of them had simply gone comatose and wasted away until they'd died. Others had walked away into the jungle and never returned. A few lucky ones, like Mo'at, had had strong enough ties to remaining family and friends that they'd been able to pull themselves through the pain. He fervently hoped that he'd never be put to that test.

Janni pulled out something wrapped in layers of soft leaves as he set the leaf-plate down in front of his mate. "Here," she said to Neytiri, "I can finally give you this. And this one is for you, Jake," the jewelcrafter said as she handed the Olo'eyktan a similar package.

The new mother was intrigued and unwrapped the gift as everyone looked on with interest. "Jake came to me a few months ago and told me that he wanted to give you something special, since you were going to give him a child. It took me a while, but I'm pleased with the way it came out," her best friend explained.

Neytiri peeled away the last leaf covering the ornament and gasped in astonishment. Sitting in her palm was a beautiful pearlescent piece of shell that had been sculpted into the shape of a stalking _palulukan._ The beast shimmered and almost glowed with rainbow colors as the tsahik tipped it from side to side.

An expression of great satisfaction appeared on the jewelcrafter's face. "Jake brought me a shell from your visit to the Ikran Clan of the Eastern Sea and asked me to make something from it." She gestured to the astounded Olo'eyktan, "Unwrap yours, Jake."

All eyes turned to the former marine as he fumbled the leaf-wrappings off of his own package. Admiring murmurs arose from the crowd when he uncovered a pearly carving of Toruk, obviously made from the same shell as Neytiri's piece.

Janni reached out and ordered, "Put the two pieces next to each other, like this." She shifted the ornaments as their owners obligingly held them out. To the surprise of the crowd they fit together perfectly, the outstretched forelimbs of _palulukan_ fitting precisely under one of _Toruk's_ spread wings. "Hold them like that for a minute," she demanded as she picked up and unwrapped a third parcel.

A third pearly ornament, but one without adornment, lay in the package. Janni placed it underneath the joined carvings, where it fit beautifully. "When your son shows us who he is I will shape this for him," she said in satisfaction. "Until then he can wear it as it is now."

Everyone was amazed by the beauty and craftmanship of the pieces. Mo'at, who had been in on the secret, said in satisfaction, "These are sure to claim first place at the next gathering. Nothing else will come close, I am certain." Murmurs of agreement went through the admiring crowd.

Jake was stunned – he hadn't expected to receive anything, he'd only asked that Janni make something special for Neytiri. After a few moments he got over his surprise enough to ask, "What did you do with the rest of the shell? It was a lot bigger than these," he gestured at the finished pieces.

His mate's best friend grinned widely, "Safely put away and awaiting the arrival of the rest of your children!" The crowd roared with laughter as Jake's face became an interesting shade of lavendar.

There was a great deal of admiration for Janni's work from their fellow clansmen; between that and the baby it took quite a while for them to attend to their breakfast. When they finished eating Neytiri claimed her son from his grandmother. She stood up as if she were going to go somewhere, and gestured for Jake to remain where he was when he started to rise to follow her. He sat back down, mystified.

Neytiri walked out into the middle of the gathering-circle to make it obvious that she had something that she wanted to say and waited for the crowd noise to die down. She spoke to her clansmen once everyone had quieted. "It is a great blessing and honor for the All Mother to entrust a Na'vi with one of Her precious children, and it is fitting to thank Her for such a great gift," she began. She looked around at her fellow Omatikaya, meeting their eyes as she continued. "In the case of this particular child, there is someone else to thank as well. It is someone without whom this child would not exist, someone who is responsible for sending the Na'vi our Toruk Makto, someone without whose sacrifice the Omatikaya and the Tree of Souls would now be resting in Eywa."

Neytiri looked down at her newborn son and smiled, remembering flower petals waving in the breeze as she fulfilled part of a solemn promise she had made. "You see," she explained to her fellow clansmen, "a long time ago our Olo'eyktan had a brother…."


	2. Dreamwalker Olo'eyktan

Norm opened his avatar's eyes and reflexively stretched as his conscious awareness seated itself in the hybrid body's neurological system. He winced the moment he moved. _Dammit, trapped my tail again! Ow!_ He quickly rolled off of the appendage, which he'd somehow managed to insert between his thigh and the cable-strong rope forming the hammock that his avatar slept in. The scientist sat up and gingerly massaged the sore spot, wincing some more as circulation returned.

It was long past the normal rising time for the Omatikaya. Norm had had a lot to deal with at Hell's Gate in recent days, and he'd finally had to give in to Max' nagging about too much burning the candle at both ends. He'd griped about it one day to Tanhi, one of the Omatikaya healers. To his surprise the woman had not only agreed with Max, she'd threatened to spike his meals with a sleeping herb to keep his avatar knocked out until he got caught up on his sleep.

"It is not enough that your _tawtute_ body sleeps while your dreamwalker body is awake," she insisted. "The mind needs rest as much as the body does if it is to stay healthy. You will sleep yourself out for the next three days, or I will tell Maakxs (her heavy Na'vi accent mangled the neuroscientist's name) to give your Sky People body some sleeping medicine as well, and you will _have_ to sleep no matter which body you are in!" Norm had no doubt the healer meant every word, so he'd given in (if a little ungraciously.)

He had to admit that he felt better for it though, as he got up and climbed the anchor-rope to the nearest branch of New Hometree. His stomach started growling as he walked down the central spiral towards the ground level. _One more consequence of not spending enough time in my avatar,_ he thought to himself wryly.

Norm begrudged every moment that wasn't spent in link, and that was a lot of moments these days. With the RDA and Sec Ops kicked off of Pandora, Grace Augustine dead, and Jake Sully permanently transferred to _his_ avatar, the anthropologist found himself the _de facto_ head of the Avatar Project, and thus leader of the remaining humans at Hell's Gate.

He'd never imagined – never _wanted_ – to be in the position he found himself in now. When he'd found out that Grace Augustine, the preeminent xenobotanist, had personally requested that he be recruited to the Avatar Project to be a full time cultural liason to the Na'vi, he'd had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He'd thrown himself into his Pandoran training with such enthusiasm and intensity that he was speaking the language better after six months of study than some who had been working to learn it for years. As far as he was concerned, the opportunity of a lifetime had been handed to him on a golden platter, and he'd wanted nothing more than to completely immerse himself in the culture of these strange, tall, tailed people.

All of that had blown up in his face when Hometree had gone up in flames, when Grace had died of a bullet wound from Quaritch's pistol during a desperate attempt to save her life.

Norm had ridden a direhorse right into the teeth of SecOps' ground troops half out of grief at the death of his mentor and half out of rage at having his life's dream snatched out of his grasp by the very insanity that the Na'vi were fighting against. He had fully expected to die. Part of him hadn't much cared.

He hadn't been at all surprised by Jake's decision to transfer to his avatar permanently. In fact, he'd expected it, even encouraged it. _He deserves every bit of happiness he can get after what he's been through,_ the scientist mused as he reached the level of the eating-area and turned at the glowing blue bladder light marking the food-space.

When Norm had returned to Hell's Gate after the marine's successful transfer, he'd been shocked to find the entire Avatar team filling the link room waiting for him. The entomologist, Chris Miller, had stepped forward uncomfortably.

"All of us talked," she waved an arm to indicate their fellow scientists. "We know we did the right thing, siding with the Na'vi." She'd looked down and shuffled her feet uncomfortably, "We couldn't help but think that if we'd acted sooner, Augustine might still be alive." Regretful murmurs of agreement had gone through the group.

Miller had steeled herself and looked the anthropologist in the eye. "Here's the thing. We know the RDA's going to be mad as hell when they find out what's happened. We know that in all probability we're toast as soon as they get a response team out here." She'd looked down briefly again and said softly, "And some of us think that's maybe what we deserve, for keeping our noses in our work and letting the RDA do what they've done to Pandora and the Na'vi."

Norm had kept quiet and let the woman finish. "The problem is, the RDA'll pick up right where they left off once they're through with us. We don't want that to happen, but we don't know how to make it _not_ happen. The only possibility we can see means cooperating with the Na'vi even more when the RDA shows up again. For that, we need someone they know and trust, someone they'll talk to, someone they'll believe. With Sully gone native, there's only one person left who has any chance of pulling it off. You."

Norm had reacted as if he'd been presented with his very own jar full of _kaliweya._ "Oh no. Not me. No way. You've got the wrong guy. Go find someone else."

Max had stepped forward and looked at his friend sympathetically. "It has to be you, Norm. The Omatikaya are the only clan that has any trust for us at all, and Grace and Jake are both out of the picture as far as being liasons are concerned. You're Grace's protégé, you spent the most time in the field with her out of any of us. Anyone else would have to spend years establishing the kind of trust you have with the Na'vi, and we don't have that kind of time. It has to be you, Norm. You're the head of the Avatar Project now."

They were right, of course. All Norm had wanted to do was crawl into a hole and grieve for Trudy, for Grace, for all the people and opportunities that had been lost, but he was needed.

_And I'm still needed,_ he thought tiredly as he walked over to the fire-pit where A'tey's cooks kept food available at all times for the hungry. _No rest for the weary, no time to grieve. Too much to do. _He selected a large purple fruit and a leaf-wrapped piece of meat that was still warm and found a quiet spot to eat in.

For some reason he wasn't surprised when Tanhi appeared shortly after he'd started eating. The clan grapevine was the most efficient form of communication short of radio that he'd ever encountered. He had no doubt that someone had noticed him descending from the sleeping-levels and had had the healer informed. He gestured to the space beside him, and the Na'vi willingly took a seat.

"Are you feeling more rested now?" she inquired.

"Much better, thank you," he smiled, "you were right, I needed the break."

Tanhi smiled with satisfaction, "It is not an easy task, to be a member of one Clan and Olo'eyktan of another at the same time. You must care for yourself if you are to serve both Clans well."

Norm was startled at the healer's words. "Olo'eyktan? Jake is Olo'eyktan of the Omatikaya…."

She turned to him with almost equal surprise, "And you are Olo'eyktan of the dreamwalker-Clan, are you not?" The healer shook her head ruefully. "It is amazing to think that those of your little clan are the only sane ones left of an entire People whose world they themselves have destroyed…." She clucked her tongue in an expression of regret and grief.

Tanhi looked up and continued, "And here you are, in a place where your People cannot even breathe the air, drink the water or eat the food." She shook her head again, "Only Eywa herself could resolve this. Surely no other Olo'eyktan has ever had to face such a dilemma before." The expression on the healer's face grew concerned, "You must be sure to take care of yourself if you are to help your People. They need a strong Olo'eyktan. You will not be able help them unless you keep yourself strong."

Norm was touched by the strength of the healer's concern. "Thank you," he said softly. "You're right, it's been hard. And it's not going to get easier any time soon, not with the Sky People coming back."

She reached out and laid a firm hand on his forearm. "Trust Eywa. She will do what is needed to protect all of us. She will send you the answers you need, if you will only listen to Her."

The anthropologist smiled, "You sound more like a tsahik than a healer," he teased gently.

The woman blushed a bit and dropped her hand. "I only say what all Na'vi know to be true."

"And you say it very well," he replied and got up. "So. Now that I'm rested and the dreamwalkers are busy elsewhere, I should go find something to do."

Tanhi rose as well and claimed his hand, "The first thing you are going to do is visit Jake and Neytiri and give them a chance to show off their new son to you," she ordered playfully. "Jake will want to make sure that his son learns to recognize his uncle."

Norm grinned with delight at the thought and gestured with his free hand, "Lead the way!"


	3. Conversation

"He's beautiful, Neytiri. Motherhood suits you," Norm complimented the new mother. The words were expected, but they were absolutely true; the little one was seriously cute with his dark hair, tiny tail and miniature queue. He'd held the baby for a bit, with Mo'at's coaching, but had passed the child back as soon as it showed signs of being hungry.

The scientist shook his head ruefully as he watched the little one nursing. "It still amazes me that Eywa changed your avatar to make it fertile when she moved your spirit into it, and you didn't even realize it. Do you know how long our geneticists have been trying to figure out how to make a non-sterile hybrid? It's a good thing you're not on Earth! They'd take you apart piece by piece to find out how she did it."

Jake commented dryly, "Then it's a good thing I'll never go back there, isn't it?"

Both of the men chuckled. Given that his human body had been dead for almost a year and a half, there was no way he in his Na'vi form could survive the trip never mind stay alive on his natal planet. Earth was forever closed to Jake. He didn't mind a bit.

"So," the Olo'eyktan inquired, "you've gotten all the supplies from the Venture Nova into stores now?"

The relief on the scientist's face was plain. "Yeah. Thank God they bought that malarkey about us having some kind of infectious disease. They couldn't wait to drop their cargo and get out of here, even without any unobtanium on board. Supplies meant to keep hundreds of people alive for a couple of years will go a long way when you've got less than four dozen to feed."

The marine was sympathetic. The scientists of the Avatar Program had known what the consequences of rebelling against the RDA would mean for them personally. The fact that they were still determined to find a solution to the crisis facing humanity before their erstwhile employers could destroy them engendered a deep respect in the Omatikaya's new clan leader. "You know, if we can pull it off again when the next supply ship comes, you guys would be set for a long, long time. Maybe long enough."

Norm nodded, but dropped his eyes. "I don't know. There wasn't enough time for information about the rebellion to get back to Earth and new orders to get sent to the Venture Nova. Not that they could do much, since they didn't have many military on board. They'll have time to send orders to the Venture Sun, though."

"They won't have anything for a military force on board the new ship either," Jake insisted. "They have no choice about contacting us – they need to refuel if they want to get back home. Straight up blackmail. Drop the supplies or die in space. The real danger is going to be the ship that just launched, the Venture Comet."

The _de facto_ head of the Avatar Project agreed, "Though they launched so soon – relatively speaking – that they can't have an army on board."

The former corporal sounded a note of caution, "We can't count on that. The RDA is into everything. There's no telling how many units they can throw together on short notice. If they could get a force just to equal SecOps we'd be in trouble. We have to be prepared for an all-out assault equal to the troops an ISV can carry. If it's less than that, great, but if we assume a small force and aren't prepared we'd be toast."

"And they wouldn't have to bother sending a twelve-year ship. You're right. Best to be prepared, I guess," the scientist conceded.

Jake decided a change of topic was in order. "How's your new driver doing?" he asked in a neutral tone.

Norm sighed. "I'm never going to play poker with her, that's for sure." The new father looked at him quizzically and he explained, "If you shot someone right in front of her I doubt she'd even blink. A completely closed book, can't tell what she's thinking at all. I showed her the security videos of Old Hometree and the expression on her face didn't change a bit." The marine frowned, and he hastily added, "Of course, we pretty much kidnapped her. Grabbed her and her avatar off the Venture Nova without so much as a by-your-leave, didn't tell her that we're all sitting ducks until it was too late for her to change her mind. For all she knows she's on the bulls-eye now too, just because she's here. Damned if she does, damned if she doesn't. She can't be a happy camper right now."

Jake wasn't either, judging by the look on his face. "What was she coming here for? The mining?"

"No," the anthropologist shook his head, "she was coming here to study the flying animals. She's an aerospace engineer, wanted to find out why Pandoran flyers have four wings instead of two."

The black look on the Olo'eyktan's face eased up a bit. Given the RDA's efforts to strip mine as much unobtanium from Pandora as possible, anything connected with mining drew an instant knee-jerk reaction from the Na'vi and Jake was absorbing a lot of their perspectives. He wasn't about to trust any Earth newcomer, but he wouldn't reject this one out of hand. Yet. "And the shuttle?" he asked, referring to the ship Norm had tricked the Venture Nova into sending down to Hell's Gate.

"Fine," was the immediate answer. "It went through all the check-outs and maintenance procedures before they sent it down. It's designed to sit idle for years at a time while an ISV travels. It can sit on the airfield for however long it takes for Sara to decide who's side she's on. And she can't fly it by herself, even with computer assist, so it won't be going anywhere."

They were both quiet for a minute or two, watching Neytiri and the baby. Jake reached out and lovingly ran a hand lightly down his mate's back and was rewarded with a brilliant smile. Then Norm asked, "You're going to start the offensive martial arts training soon?"

The Olo'eyktan dropped his hand and nodded. "The next gathering's in three months. I asked the local clans to send their warriors back here for the offensive training then. It's not going to be the surprise we planned it to be, but we don't dare not do it."

The scientist flinched, and Jake immediately cursed himself for thoughtlessness. He knew that Norm was still blaming himself for the virus that had managed to infect the Hell's Gate computer system and copy the recordings that he had made in an attempt to teach the Na'vi language to his fellow avatar drivers. "Hey, don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault. Like Perrat said, we can make it work for us instead of against us. It'll just take a little more effort on our part, that's all."

Norm was still pained. Because of the stolen recordings, the RDA would hear Jake asking the Olo'eyktan of the Ikran Clan of the Eastern Sea to hide his child, which effectively put a big bullseye on the clan. The thought that he was responsible for a potential repeat of what had happened to the Omatikaya's Old Hometree had caused him a number of sleepless nights. The scientist had to make an effort to clear his head, and blew out a gusty breath. "Yeah. Right."

Jake clapped his friend on the back. "Hang in there. We'll make it work, I promise."

The scientist stayed a little while longer before excusing himself. Living a double life was starting to wear on the man, the new father thought with concern. Spellman had come to Pandora to be a simple xenoanthropologist but found himself instead the head of the Hell's Gate installation, in charge of keeping the remaining humans alive while they raced to find an answer to the extinction Earth was facing, and being a member of the Omatikaya clan at the same time.

Mo'at's thoughts marched with his, "Your friend bears great responsibilities and great burdens. Even if he is equal to the task Eywa has given him, he will need Her help."

The new father agreed, "So will we all."


	4. Family

Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at'ite was happier than she had ever been in her entire life as she walked along the riverbank in the sunshine with her son sleeping in his carrier against her chest. She turned and looked at her home with appreciation and gratitude.

New Hometree embraced the Omatikaya clan warmly, sheltering its new inhabitants with the loving care of the All Mother herself. Neytiri's clansmen moved about her, with her, including her in the timeless rhythm of their lives that had endured unchanged since the First Songs.

The rhythm of the days was the heartbeat of the Clan. Na'vi rose at first light, bathed in the river, ate first meal, and then moved on to the activities of the day. Hunters got their assignments and planned their hunts, the gatherers went out to collect the bounty that Eywa provided, and crafters took advantage of the light to do their work. In the evening the day-work would be put away and the Clan would come together to eat, to socialize, and to sing the songs and tell the stories of the People.

There were other rhythms too, interwoven with the daily ones. Children grew, took their places in the Clan, found mates, and – as Neytiri and Jake had - produced children in their turn. It was her place, her time in this rhythm that had the daughter of Mo'at so happy that she frequently found herself quietly singing the songs of the People to her new son out of sheer joy.

_If someone had told me, years ago, that I would ever experience this much happiness in my life I would have thought them insane!_ she thought to herself. Yet it was true; the All Mother had indeed transformed her life. Neytiri felt an incredible sense of awe and humility whenever she contemplated Eywa's personal attentions to her.

The All Mother had reached years across the stars to bring Jake to Her world, had made him one with the Na'vi, and rescued Neytiri from a loveless future by giving her her one true love to be her mate. Eywa had then rewarded them, in the process granting Jake the heart's desire he hadn't even been aware of, by making their love tangible in the form of the baby boy sleeping against Neytiri's chest.

The tsahik's eyes grew misty as she remembered waking up to her first full day as her son's mother. She'd opened her eyes to see Jake watching her. Tears had been silently running down his face. Neytiri had reached out to touch him to find out what was wrong, but he'd taken her hand in his and smiled, kissing it briefly to let her know that he was okay. He had responded to her questioning look by taking a deep breath and saying softly in explanation, "I have more joy inside than my eyes can hold." Such joy-tears came to both of them frequently these days.

Neytiri contemplated their immediate future. _The next tawtute ship will not come for over a year. The first one to worry about will come three years after that, and the truly dangerous one will be six years after that one._

Her son stirred in his sleep. She smiled and ran a hand lightly over his hair in comfort. He sighed and settled down again. It was impossible for her to worry too much at the moment. _Jake was right about this first ship, why would he not be right about the second? It was silly of me to worry. _Neytiri's happiness reasserted itself. _We have more than four years before the next dangerous ship arrives, and Eywa will be with us then just as she was when we threw the tawtute out, and She will be with us when the twelve-year ship arrives as well. She will always protect Her children._

The prospect of the next four years of peace in front of her contributed greatly to the tsahik's joy. She wrapped her arms around her sleeping child in a light hug. _Soon I will be recovered enough from the birthing to make tsaheylu with Jake again._ She shivered in delighted anticipation – and then almost snickered, remembering.

They had continued to make _tsaheylu_ for a while after they'd found out about the pregnancy. After the child was grown enough so that Neytiri could feel it moving all the time – and the awareness of that movement became a strong part of the sensory link – they'd had to stop for a while. Feeling the equivalent of a small animal moving around inside his mate's body as if it were inside his own, as precious as it was, tended to make Jake lose his lunch.

She burst out giggling as she remembered the wry, knowing expression on Alai's face when she'd brought her heaving mate to the healers' enclave. The Omatikaya's senior healer had handed them a ceramic basin and a fistful of the minty _lati_ leaves to settle the expectant father's stomach.

The baby shifted again and Neytiri ran a loving hand over the carrier. She said a silent prayer of thanks to Eywa yet again. _The All Mother gave us a child so soon, she must truly be pleased with us. Many Na'vi with twice my years haven't even found their mates, yet here I am mated and with my first child already._

Part of the reason for that was obvious to the tsahik. _Strong children make the Clan and the People stronger. The Olo'eyktan is the strongest of the Clan, and Toruk Makto the strongest of the Na'vi. All the Toruk Makto have given multiple children to the People._

She smiled again as she contemplated future children. _Perhaps the All Mother will gift us a daughter next. I would so love to have a daughter too! I would tell her all about her aunt Sylwanin and everything she and I did together, and Mother – Mother would be braiding her hair every single day, playing with her, telling her stories, giving her treats. I'd be lucky to see her at all!_

Neytiri's heart was full of gratitude and happiness for her mother. The older woman had clearly regained joy in her own life with the advent of her grandson, which relieved her daughter no end. _Duty may be a true guide, but duty alone is not enough to keep the life-fire burning,_ she thought.

Mo'at had continued to perform her duty as Tsahik to the Omatikaya after losing Eytukan, but it had been clear to all that the greater part of her heart had died with her mate. Now she had a reason for living again. _Surely that was another reason why Eywa decided to give us a child so soon,_ Neytiri thought. She knew instinctively that she was not yet ready to be Clan Tsahik, that her mother was still needed. She was grateful to Eywa for giving Mo'at the happiness that made duty sit lightly on the shoulders.

A call from the base of the Tree made Neytiri look up. A smile lit her face when she saw Jake waving as he made his way over to her. She waved back to indicate that she'd seen him and waited for the father of her child.

Jake had gotten quite a surprise from his adopted clan after Norm's visit. He and Neytiri had walked over to the clay works that day, intending to check in with the clan artisans.

It was a practice the marine had started after he'd permanently transferred to his avatar and found himself Olo'eyktan. He'd desperately needed to learn the language, the culture, and the names and faces of all the people he was now supposed to lead. The gift of a ceremonial bow had led to a conversation with the Na'vi who had made it, which had inspired the idea of visiting with each group of Omatikaya crafters as a means of getting to know the language and his People. The practice had been so beneficial that he'd continued it ever since.

To his surprise, the senior clay artisan had informed him firmly that his foremost duty to the clan at the moment was caring for his mate and getting to know his son. Tv'herai had shooed the Olo'eyktan off, admonishing "And don't bother any of the other crafters either, they'll give you the same answer!"

So aside from the daily hunters' meetings and whatever came up that required the input of the clan leader, Jake was mostly free to spend the time getting used to being part of a tiny new family. Neytiri gladly slipped off the child-carrier and transferred it to the eager father. She loved the expression she saw in her mate's eyes whenever he held their son.

The former marine wrapped an arm around his mate and kissed her forehead lovingly as soon as the carrier was settled. Neytiri happily circled his waist with her own arm, and said another quiet prayer of thanksgiving as they strolled around their home.


	5. Linchpin

If Neytiri was the happiest female of the Omatikaya, Sara Evans was undoubtedly the unhappiest woman at Hell's Gate.

The aerospace engineer had signed on with the Avatar Project in order to study Pandora's flighted creatures and develop new ship designs for the RDA from those findings. The reason behind making her an avatar driver was to enable her (hopefully) to create a neural link with a banshee, as the natives routinely did, and so gain direct experience of the creature in flight.

Right now, she was heartily wishing she was back on Earth safely in the crowded research facility she had been so eager to leave. _It all started out so well, a dream come true!_ she thought with dismay.

Oh, the first part had gone according to plan. The prospect of having an award-winning ship designer under exclusive contract to produce entirely new classes of air and space transport was more than enough to cause the RDA to open its checkbook and dangle the temptation of direct connection to a quad-winged flyer in front of the engineer. Terms had been agreed upon, contracts signed, genetic material taken, and a Na'vi-human hybrid created with Sara's DNA. She'd entered cryosleep on the Venture Nova filled with excitement for all the discoveries that lay just ahead. _And all of it blown to hell the second I woke up,_ she mused bitterly.

The engineer had thought it odd that no other cryosleep capsules had been opened when the techs had disconnected her and helped her gather her things. There had been others in the shuttle on the way down to Hell's Gate, though nowhere near as many as she'd expected. _I was too hyped up at finally being here to ask questions. Must have left my head behind in cryo. Stupid idiot!_ Sara berated herself.

The emptiness of the Hell's Gate base had been what had finally penetrated her euphoria. The base should have been teeming with people. The landing field should have been swarmed, the corridors full of traffic, every lab staffed and humming. The place had the unmistakable air of a ghost town instead.

They'd distracted her at first by insisting that her avatar needed to be checked to make sure it hadn't been harmed in transit. When it checked out okay, she'd finally demanded an explanation from the senior neuroscientist. Sara's blood had run cold when Doctor Patel had gently informed her of a pandemic disease loose on the station.

"But that's impossible!" she'd blurted out. "The atmosphere and environmental conditions on Pandora are lethal to Terran microorganisms! No disease known to mankind can replicate itself successfully here!"

"That's exactly why we're having trouble identifying it," Max had informed her gently. "It isn't microoorganism-based. Best we can tell, there's something in the human immune system itself that's reacting to Pandora in such a way that causes certain structures in its cells to destabilize. It happens very slowly, that's why no one caught it before. Problem is, it appears the destabilization is self-perpetuating and communicable once it reaches a certain threshold."

Sara remembered being both incredulous and incensed. "And you just thought you'd have the Venture Nova deliver passengers down into the middle of an effective plague situation? What the hell is _wrong_ with you people?"

Dr. Patel had shaken his head in regret. "Not everyone. Just you. We've got reason to believe that you may have a key to resolving the situation."

Her eyes had nearly bugged out of her head. "Me? I'm an engineer, not a freaking xenobiologist! What the hell could I possibly have to do with the solution to a damn plague?" The man looked ashamed and embarrassed, she'd had to give him that, but it didn't touch her rage and inner fear.

"I'm sorry, I'm going to have to let Doctor Spellman explain that part of it to you," he'd said regretfully. "He's the acting head of the installation."

The problem was, Spellman wasn't around. He was either in areas of the base that were off-limits to her, or linked in to his own avatar. It wasn't until the shuttle had left that the elusive anthropologist had finally put in an appearance. By that time she'd mastered an impenetrable façade that would have been the envy of any poker player in history.

The head of the Avatar Project had come clean about the whole plague deception and had shown her what appeared to be security cam images of the great gaping wounds that the strip mining had gouged into Pandora's surface, numerous attacks with automatic weapons on bow-and-arrow armed natives, and most shockingly, the apparently unprovoked destruction of a native 'city.'

Sara had almost lost her appearance of impassivity on that last. The ship mounted cameras had incredibly high resolution, and all of them had been active. To see the attack from dozens of angles (which argued for its veracity,) with such detail that she could see terrified, screaming children running from explosions was almost too much for her composure.

She saw in the ugly open-pit scars the forebears of the wounds that Earth commonly bore these days. The recognition that Pandora would one day become a twin to her home planet if this continued was inescapable. Worse, seeing the damage being done here led to a horrifying conclusion she had no doubt the RDA was desperate to hide. _Earth is doomed._

Sitting in the privacy of her quarters where no one could see her, Sara closed her eyes and shuddered as she revisited that revelation. _I never thought of it before, never considered it. Why shouldn't we go out into space? Why not explore the universe? There's so much to see, so much we don't know, so much we could learn!_ Her own life's work had been an intoxicating, exciting journey in helping mankind to reach those stars, to find that knowledge, to discover how much man didn't know that they didn't know.

_And now I know that the Earth is dying,_ she thought in incredible dismay._ No more comfort in the reassuring 'we saved species X from extinction by creating new creatures from our banked gene samples,' messages they feed us. No more 'legislation was introduced to reclaim wasteland Y and make it a nature preserve' – with or without the followup that funding got quietly pulled once the election was over._ The miles-wide ugly gash in Pandora's surface filled her mind accusingly. _My God, why in the world would we do something like this if we didn't have to? Just so we can have more maglev trains? So someone can have five more minutes at home in the morning before they have to leave for work?_

Sara opened her eyes, but it didn't help. She was seeing the blood price of convenience in the video of the faces of terrified, screaming children as their home exploded in a fireball all around them. _Millions of years of evolution, and this is what we've become? Parasites on the corpse of a world we killed, reaching out to the stars for more victims to sate our hunger?_ She didn't know if she wanted to cry or scream.

Her situation on Pandora didn't seem any better. _Spellman admitted they lied about a plague, they lied about the reason for the empty base, what else have they lied about? Is everything they've shown me so far some elaborate hoax? What for? What could they possibly want out of me? They have to want something – they could have left me on the Venture Nova and I wouldn't have woken up till we got back to Earth. They could have shot me the second I got into the base. What do they want? Why me?_

Evans got up and started pacing the room, too filled with nervous energy to sit still any longer. _He admitted they helped the natives throw SecOps and the RDA out. If I was the RDA, I'd carpet bomb this whole damn place. No negotiations, no questions asked. Bring the components for a stereo lithography plant with me, level this place, and start over._ She ran a hand through her hair in anguish at the thought. _Of course, that includes killing me as well. Minor detail. Unless I could communicate with them, cooperate with them._ The video images burned insistently in her mind. _But do I __**want**__ to? Who the hell can I trust? Can I trust __**anybody?**__ Gah! Get your head together, girl, your life is at stake here!_

Pacing her quarters wasn't enough to quiet the maelstrom of her thoughts. Sara grabbed a set of workout clothes from her locker and headed for the exercise facility. _I can't think straight right now. What I need is a long, exhausting workout that'll tire me out enough to stop the squirrel cage in my head._

She was halfway to the gym when one of the scientists remaining on the base appeared from a cross-hallway. He was dressed in sweats, apparently headed for the gym himself. Sara made sure her façade was firmly in place before giving the man a simple small nod of acknowledgement.

He gave her a sympathetic look in return while taking in her appearance. "Headed for the gym? I'm going there myself, be glad to show you the way."

Evans had memorized the base's layout but nodded noncommittally anyway. The man gestured down the hall with one hand and fell in at her side. "I'm sure this has all got to seem insane to you," he commented. "If it's any consolation, we didn't plan any of this. It just sort of happened. We're all still kind of stunned by it ourselves."

Sara couldn't stop herself from making a small grunt. _Thank you, Master of the Obvious,_ she thought sarcastically.

They arrived at the door of the exercise facility, and her companion opened it for her and gestured for her to precede him. He persisted with the conversation despite her minimal participation. "Some of us have been able to continue the work we came here to do, but others of us haven't been so lucky. I'm kind of at loose ends at the moment, so I've got more free time than most of the others, which is why I'm at the gym at this hour."

The shock of the prospect of not being able to do what she came here to do was something that Sara understood. She hadn't considered that others on the base might be in that situation as well. The words were almost dragged out of her, "And what work is that?"

The man shrugged as he threw a small towel that he'd been carrying over a hanger. "Geology. With _that_," he nodded in a direction Sara assumed to indicate the strip mine, "out there, the natives aren't very trusting of my studies at the moment."

She could certainly understand why, given the images she'd been shown. "It must be quite frustrating," she commented in a neutral tone.

"At times, yes," he replied with a smile. "Of course, I do have the data already in the base computers and the orbital scanners to work with. Doesn't take the place of field work, but at least it's something. You're here to work on ship designs, right?" he asked as he got onto a treadmill.

Sara reluctantly took the treadmill next to his. "Right." It seemed inappropriate to not introduce herself in the face of her companion's persistent cheerfulness. "Dr. Sara Evans. And you are?"

The scientist smiled at her in return, "Doctor Dave Robinson. Pleased to meet you."


	6. Snake in the Grass

Dave Robinson brooded over his meeting with Sara Evans in his quarters that evening. It hadn't happened by chance. Despite the best cryo technology, six years of physical inactivity left its mark on the human body. It took a few months of exercising to get oneself back into pre-cryo condition. Daily gym workouts were part of the protocol that all new arrivals and avatar drivers were required to observe. He'd known that she'd show up sooner or later if he just hung out in the area long enough.

_Didn't get much, for the time I spent,_ he thought. _She's about as close mouthed as they come. One thing's for sure, she doesn't trust anyone right now. It'll take a lot of work to sound her out, see if I can get her on my side._

Robinson had arrived at Hell's Gate on the ISV prior to the Venture Star, a very ambitious young geologist who was determined to make a great name for himself that would stretch far beyond the reaches of dry academia. He saw Pandora as his chance to achieve that. He'd thrown himself completely into his work as soon as he'd arrived, garnering the approval of his colleagues. He'd almost resented having to take precious time away from his work to deal with his avatar, but that was his only option for being able to operate properly in the field so he'd had to put up with it.

The normal protocols for acclimating an avatar and preparing it for field work took months. Between the work he immersed himself in and the hundreds of hours that had to be spent in link, he simply hadn't been on Pandora long enough for his fellow scientists to recognize the depths of his obsession by the time Jake Sully had arrived and everything had hit the fan.

Dave had kept himself in the background as much as possible during the fracas. It was clear to him that the side that won this conflict was going to be the one that would give him the best chance to continue his research. When it became clear that the avatar drivers had gained the upper hand on the administrative and remaining SecOps personnel he'd quietly slipped into a position at the rear of the group to make it appear that he'd been there all along.

He'd achived his objective; he'd been allowed to stay when the RDA personnel were kicked off the planet. Unfortunately for him, the Na'vi were adamant that all mining operations and associated research cease immediately. Sully, Spellman, and most of the other scientists had sided with the natives, which didn't leave him any choice. Simply speaking out would have put him in a spotlight that he knew he needed to avoid at all costs.

So here he was. So close, and yet so far. On Pandora, but with his work forbidden, tantalizingly just out of reach. _So frustrating!_ he thought. _If that stupid kid hadn't had the hots for that girl, I might have been able to persuade him to take me out into the field without anyone being the wiser._

Robinson had carefully cultivated an Omatikaya youth who'd felt slighted when Jake had refused to help him tame a banshee. _It was going so well. If only the kid had been a little more patient!_ Dave thought in dismay.

The reason Pa'kan had been so eager to bond with an _ikran_ was to become eligible to choose a mate. Kiree, the young woman he wanted, was wonderful (and at least to his mind) far too popular with the other young men of the clan. He'd been desperate to choose her before anyone else could.

Mo'at, Jake, and another of the Omatikaya tsahiks had all told Pa'kan that he wasn't ready, but he'd ignored them and gone to _Ikinmaya_ on his own. The result had been disastrous. The banshees had attacked him as soon as he'd neared the sky-path and injured him so badly that his survival had been something of a miracle.

Undaunted, he'd proposed to Kiree when he misheard a conversation that implied that another Na'vi was about to ask her to be his mate. The shocked young woman had rejected his suit outright. When Pa'kan had attempted to force her to accompany him to the Tree of Souls to make _tsaheylu,_ Jake had appeared out of nowhere to force him to let Kiree go and had banished him on the spot, thus making Robinson's plans go up in smoke.

So now here he was. Still on Pandora, with his work still forbidden by those he considered ignorant savages and spineless incompetents. He'd managed to sneak a message out, concealed inside an innocent missive to his sister, but it wouldn't arrive on Earth for years yet. _Please, let it arrive safely, let her read it, and let her get it to the RDA as fast as possible! These yahoos might not have the spine to insist on continuing unobtanium research, but the RDA definitely does! All I have to do is to be patient, keep quiet, and keep my head down. They have to have a response team on the way, I just need to wait for them to get here._

And in the meantime, there was the very intriguing Doctor Sara Evans to sound out. Of course, he would have to be cautious until he could ascertain where her loyalties lay. Such caution required a great deal of patience. He smiled to himself. _No problem. I certainly have the time._


	7. Ebb

The month following their son's birth seemed to fly by Jake and Neytiri. The baby slept a great deal of course, and needed to nurse often. Both of them wanted to give Mo'at plenty of time with her new grandson. The improvement in the Tsahik's spirits was striking, giving her a new purpose that had been very badly needed. Omatikaya were soon seeking out Jake and Neytiri privately to comment on how good the child was for Eytukan's mate, and how greatly her improved demeanor showed as she performed her duties as Tsahik to the clan.

One result of this however, was that the Olo'eyctan was constantly itching for more time with his son. Neytiri gave the boy to his father one morning commenting that she wanted to have her hair tended to. Jake gleefully encouraged her to take all the time she wanted and promptly disappeared with the baby in his arms.

She had a lovely relaxing time, bathing and then having her braids undone, her hair washed, and then having it re-braided. By the time she was finished she knew that the baby would soon be hungry again, so she started looking for her mate. Neytiri looked in all the usual spots; his 'office,' the sleeping-niche they shared, the nantang-ball area, and came up empty. One of the fruit gatherers coming in with a loaded carry-net saw her looking around and directed her to a spot on the riverbank near the clay pit.

She headed for the sunny patch and finally found her mate and child, both fast asleep in a patch of fragrant grasses near the water's edge. Jake was stretched out in the grass on his back, his shoulders supported by the gentle slope of the bank. The baby was peacefully sleeping on his father's broad chest, the man's hands gently steadying the child. Neytiri moved as quietly as she could and sat down next to the pair with happy tears flowing down her face, content to sit and watch them until they woke.

The excitement that the Omatikaya had felt at the birth of the Olo'eyktan's and future-Tsahik's child found a new focus in the weeks after Jak'itan's arrival. After many months of careful, painstaking work, the very first weaving project on the clan's new Mother Loom was nearing completion.

Tsa'rit and his helpers had done an incredible job, creating a work such as no Omatikaya had ever seen before. He had been so inspired by the Song of the Sixth Toruk Makto that First Singer Pohtey had composed that he'd determined to take the vision it had created in his head and make it visible to everyone. When _mas'kit ni'vi sa'nok_ was finished and the Clan Elders had gathered to decide who would get to create the very first work on the new Mother Loom, he had shown them a prototype of the tapestry he intended to create by using dyes on a clear piece of heavy cloth to show them the picture he had in mind. The decision of the elders had been unanimous.

Now the great work was ready to be separated from the loom. Wood-workers had created two beautifully carved straight poles to be used at the top and bottom of the finished piece to support it. The entire clan gathered in excitement as Tsa'rit bound off the final warp threads and secured them to the top pole.

The weaver stepped back and gestured to the four burly Na'vi who held the pole ends. They carefully lifted their burden free of the loom, rolled the weaving onto the bottom pole so that it would not drag on the ground, and followed Tsa'rit up the nearest of the two central spirals in New Hometree. The crowd below shifted excitedly to more clearly see the unveiling.

The five stopped at a point on the spiral directly above the skull of_ Palulukan_ on its display stand. Tsa'rit secured the strong rope connecting the ends of the top pole to a natural projection on the tree trunk and gestured to the two holding the top pole to carefully release it. He adjusted the positioning of the guy rope as it took weight. He stood up when he was satisfied and gestured to the other two Na'vi.

Ropes were carefully attached to the ends of the bottom pole, and the two men let the lines play out slowly so that the weaving unrolled evenly. The guy rope creaked a bit as it took up the weight of the heavy tapestry. The Omatikaya waiting in anticipation below watched as the great picture unfurled before their eyes little by little.

The top of the picture was the jet black of the starry night sky through which Eywa had reached to bring Toruk Makto to Pandora. It merged with the image of black smoke rising on either side of a fiery depiction of Old Hometree lying on the ground aflame. The crushed greenery under the Tree merged with the lush jungle across the bottom of the tapestry, through which _Palulukan_ raced with a Na'vi riding atop his back. The very center of the piece was a sunburst done in all the colors of flame – and Toruk emerged from the very heart of the fire with his wings spread wide, Toruk Makto on his back.

The entire clan cheered wildly, roaring approval at the top of their lungs when the full image had been revealed. Tsa'rit spent a few minutes ensuring that the hanging was secure before coming down off of the spiral to view it for himself. He was congratulated, hugged, cheered, and touched by most of his fellow clansmen before he could get into a position to view it properly. The crowd quieted a bit as the artist took his first look at the finished work. They all saw his happy and relieved nod, indicating that he was pleased.

Mo'at and Weaver Elder Geran came forward to congratulate him, and then all three led a ceremony of blessing for the new banner. The Omatikaya celebrated long into the night, proud of their crafters, their New Hometree, their Clan, and their Toruk Makto.

Jake and Neytiri stood quietly to one side (though they were up front and very visible) with their son throughout the entire event. The Olo'eyktan was quite relaxed the whole time; he understood that this was not about him, but rather an expression of profound thanksgiving to Eywa that She had cared for Her children through the most catastrophic event the Omatikaya had seen in millenia and brought them safely to a new home.

The marine was quite content as he held his infant son and watched his clansman celebrate.


	8. Interview

"So that's pretty much the state of things," Norm concluded as he and Jake strolled casually around the base of New Hometree, "I've let Sara take her avatar out to the compound and started her on the strength and endurance training course. Between that and the language studies, it'll keep her busy for a good long time."

"She show any signs of going one way or the other yet?" the Olo'eyktan inquired.

The head of the Avatar Project shook his head, "Nope. Oh, and by the way, Max asked if you'd be willing to help him on a personal project of his. Said it'd only take a couple hours of your time."

Jake was curious, "What it is?"

"Don't know," Norm responded, "He told me that it was important that he not say anything beforehand so the results wouldn't be prejudiced."

The marine snorted at the stereotypical scientific attitude. "Did he say when?"

"Any day you've got some time free. Just let him know when. He said he'd set up out at the Avatar Compound when you were ready."

"Okay," the new father responded, "Tell him I'll be there tomorrow morning after the hunter's meeting."

The next day, as promised, Jake flew in to Hell's Gate on Swizaw. He landed on the edge of the area reserved for training avatars, then sent his friend off to perch in one of the great trees. He'd seen Max in the middle of some equipment near the barracks on his way in, so he headed off in that direction. The marine passed through the gardens on the way there.

He felt an unexpected sense of unease as he walked through the orderly, manicured plantings. The fruits and vegetables seemed too big, too lush. It didn't seem natural. _Huh,_ he mused to himself, _I'm so used to seeing things the way Na'vi see things that this doesn't look right to me._ He shrugged it off and continued on.

Jake was a bit surprised that the fuzzy-haired scientist hadn't come to greet him. _That's not like Max,_ he thought. He emerged from the gardens almost on top of the man and his equipment, which Jake realized were cameras. All of which were running and pointed at him. "Hey, Max," he greeted the scientist in puzzlement, "what's with the hardware?"

Max came forward with his hands extended, ostensibly to shake the marine's hand. "Hey, Jake, thanks for coming. Got a little project I could use your help with. Norm tell you anything about it?" The marine was surprised to see an expression of something like caution in his friend's eyes.

"Nope, nothing. What's this all about?"

Max turned and gestured to two chairs set up in the center of the video equipment, inviting him to sit down. "I got to thinking a few weeks ago that people back home don't really know a lot about Pandora. Regular people, I mean, not RDA scientific staff. I thought it'd be cool to make a video to send back home to let people know what it's like. You know, kind of 'what would you like everyone on Earth to know about Pandora,' that kind of thing."

Jake got it, and now he understood the subtle note of caution in the scientist's voice. _Brilliant!_ the marine thought, _a little PR campaign of our own!_

The cameras capturing the meeting were sophisticated units, date/time stamping and sequentially numbering every instantaneous image they recorded to make it obvious when a video had been cut or edited. It was a subtle and useful utility, which Max plainly intended to take advantage of. The Olo'eyktan sat down in the indicated chair in full view of those cameras, momentarily feeling a little awkward. It had been over a year since he'd sat in one. It didn't feel natural to him anymore.

The scientist hastened to set the parameters of the interview before the marine could say anything else. "I'd like to start by asking you some questions, just to set the tone and give you a few minutes to think. Then you can tell the folks back home anything you want. That OK?"

Jake gingerly settled his butt in the chair – it still felt a little weird. "Sure Max, whatever you want." He clasped his hands and waited politely.

The neuroscientist was relieved, _Way to go, Jake!_ he exulted internally. _Now just play along and follow my lead._ "Thanks, Jake." He settled himself in the other chair. "Now, first question. You weren't supposed to be an avatar driver originally, were you?"

The marine saw the reason behind the question instantly. _First, establish that I'm not one of the RDA or their hired goons._ "Right," he responded casually for the unseen audience. "My twin brother Tommy was supposed to be the driver. He was a scientist. I was just a Marine grunt that got rotated out on permanent disability when I took a spinal injury that paralyzed my legs." _Set it up; I'm just a regular guy like everybody else. Get the pity points for being a cripple._

Max nodded with enthusiasm; he could see that Jake knew what was going on now. "So how'd you come to be the driver if it was your brother who was supposed to be here?"

_More pity points,_ Jake knew. "Tommy got gunned down by a mugger the week before he was supposed to ship out." _Something so common on Earth no one even blinks, but make them start questioning how well their way of life works._ "He and I were identical twins, so I was able to drive his avatar. The RDA didn't want to waste the money they'd spent making it, so they offered me the gig."

Max leaned forward intently, "So you weren't trained or anything, you were pretty much just a regular guy that got scooped up and dumped here?"

_Make everyone identify with me._ "Yeah," Jake agreed, "pretty much."

The neuroscientist leaned back in his chair. "You know, the rest of us here all trained years for this assignment, so we didn't exactly come here with open minds. It'd be incredibly valuable to know how differently you see things from the way we do."

"Like what?" the marine asked politely, playing into the scientist's game.

"What about the Na'vi? What do you think of them," Max inquired.

Jake made a perfect shrug of nonchalance. "They're people, just like us. They eat and sleep and bleed. They have spouses and families. They love their kids, they have jobs, they worship a creator. They protect what's theirs."

Max made a polite scoffing sound, "Blue, ten feet tall, have tails, and you say they're just like us?" _Address the differences right away._

The former corporal couldn't quite stifle a smile. _Max is playing the sceptic part perfectly!_ He spread his hands in amused concession, "Well, once you get past those things, they are."

The scientist went back to his 'disinterested observer' persona. "You've been working with the Na'vi for a year and a half now. What would you say is the biggest difference between their society and ours?" He gave the marine an open door.

Jake had known this one was coming. He'd thought hard about what to say. _I have to keep it to what they'll understand. If I talk about queues and tsaheylu I'll lose them._ He leaned forward in his chair intently, "Everyone matters. Everyone. No exceptions."

He straightened up as he began to explain, "The guy down the street from you makes the clothes you wear. The woman who lives on the opposite side of the city cooks your food. The person downstairs gathers the vegetables that you eat. The one upstairs hunts the meat or catches the fish you eat. The kids of people you don't know will grow up to feed, clothe, protect, and doctor your kids. One of them will grow up to be your kid's husband or wife. Every single person in a Na'vi clan is important to everyone else. They know it, and they act like it."

The marine continued with a specific example, "For instance, there's no such thing as money here. If a Na'vi is hungry, he can go right to the food area and eat what he wants, whenever he wants. Everyone knows that it's to their personal benefit that that person eats, because of what he does for them. If my knife breaks," he gestured to the knife he wore in its chest-sheath, "I can walk up to the weapon makers and pick out the best knife they have, and they're happy to see me walk away with it because they know that with that knife I'll be getting them the meat for their dinner. It's in their own best interests that I have it and that it be the best knife possible."

Max made another polite scoffing sound, "No money? What if someone just walks up and takes everything and runs away?"

Jake leaned back. "That doesn't happen, because everyone knows that if the hunters don't get the weapons they need, no one eats. If the warriors who protect them from wild animals are weak from starving, people get killed." He leaned forward again in his intensity, "_There is no crime here,_" he said emphatically. "The Na'vi know instinctively that crime is in no one's best interests. It doesn't even occur to them. When what you need is there for the taking anyway, what's the use of it?"

The scientist made an incredulous snort. "No need for money, and no crime? You make it sound like utopia."

The Olo'eyktan said in all seriousness, "For them, maybe it is. They've lived this way for at least twenty thousand years – three or four times longer than our recorded human history." Jake looked up and gestured to the jungle surrounding the Hell's Gate compound. "Look at the results. After twenty thousand years of living this way, their planet is so lush and green that you can't walk more than a few meters without having to go around some living tree, or plant, or animal. Every single body of water here is so pure that you can drink straight from it without even thinking of pollution or illness. Food here is so abundant that a city of fifteen hundred Na'vi is supported by an area of only a few kilometers radius, and they live to be well over a hundred years old. Disease is practically unknown here."

Max played the part of reluctant scientist confronted with inarguable facts well. "Well, when you put it that way…."

Jake nodded emphatically. "I really think that they've got something here that we need to know. If we can find out what it is and bring it back home to Earth, it could make a huge difference. Maybe all the difference."

The neuroscientist had to work to keep his inner feeling of triumph off his face. _Way to go, Jake!_ He reached out a hand to his friend to shake it formally, ending the interview. "Well, we'll certainly hope so. That's what we're here to find out, after all."


	9. Cuckoo

Brown Hair was making a serious effort to keep his speed down to his usual casual walk. The well-practiced bland expression on his face was taking much more effort to maintain than usual.

The heir-apparent to the RDA's CEO strode towards the presidential offices from the ISV Command and Communications Center, to which he had been hastily summoned less than an hour earlier. A data stick was clenched in one fist; it took an effort of will to not white-knuckle the device.

The familiar walk seemed to take twice as long as usual. _When he sees this…._ The director could well imagine what his next assignment was going to be, and was not looking forward to it. _Can't delay the bad news though, it'd become ten times worse. We don't know what else has been planned, but whatever it is we have to stop it fast._

He turned into the presidential suite at last and nodded at the executive secretary whose massive desk took up a full third of the width of the room – and not coincidentally blocked the entrance to the CEOs private office. A brief expression of amusement flitted over Brown Hair's face as he contemplated not the desk, but the diamond-plate steel hidden under its faux wood veneer. Any impact on that desk would trigger a wall of the same material to drop down behind the woman, blocking access to the office beyond and enabling its occupants to escape via private elevator. A single small gesture by the secretary or any abrupt change in her vital signs would trigger a deadman's switch that would result in the same action. _One of the prices of the position. Can't be too careful. Too many who would love access to that office, friend and foe alike._

The secretary nodded at him, made an almost imperceptible gesture to reassure those watching on the unseen security cameras, and pressed a button on her console to announce his presence. A green light appeared next to her button after a couple of seconds and she gracefully waved him around the desk. He heard a _click_ as the door unlocked.

The door retracted into the wall, providing no panel for an intruder to hide behind. The faithful Robert, gun drawn and pointed at his chest, was the first – and expected – thing he saw. He paused to allow the man to identify him and pass him into the office. The guard holstered his weapon and nodded permission to enter.

"An early visit today," a whispering voice commented from the far end of the room.

"A communication from the Venture Nova that I felt merited your attention," Brown Hair replied cautiously, holding up the data stick.

The RDA's CEO looked at his protégé sharply. Both of them knew that the Venture Nova was only a few weeks out of Pandora. At the agonizingly slow rate at which McKinney transmissions were able to communicate data – and the priority of critical ship control traffic – only the most urgent of messages could have arrived so soon.

"Robert, you are dismissed," the whisperer commanded abruptly. The guard immediately marched out of the room, to resume his post on the other side of the door.

The CEO extended his hand for the data key, and slipped it into his terminal the moment he had it. The text of the message was brief but shocking.

_Purported plague on Pandora. Director DS' agent received orders to assassinate J. Sully, failed. Agent neutralized. Exposed crew spaced. Full data follows._

The signature code on the message identified the CEO's sleeper agent on board the Venture Nova; its captain. The whisperer was silent for over five minutes while he digested the terse missive. After that ominous pause he looked at his companion. It was obvious that the younger man had also seen the information. "So, it would appear we have a cuckoo in our nest," he said softly.

Brown Hair shuddered at the near imperceptible tone of malice in his superior's words and addressed the lesser of his two concerns. "Plague? I thought any kind of disease was nullified by the Pandoran environment?"

The whisperer waved a hand in irritation, as if brushing off a bothersome fly. "A diversion. Designed to get the Venture Nova to leave without unobtanium, no doubt." A note of begrudging respect crept into his voice. "Clever. If they were able to construct data to make the possibility look even remotely believeable, the crew would have refused to disembark. We'll take a close look at the information, but I fully expect it to be a sham. The more immediate concern is our independent minded fellow director."

His protégé asked in a carefully neutral tone, "Your orders, sir?"

The CEO leaned back in his chair slowly. "We have a full dossier on our compatriot. It's likely that there are holes of course, but it's imperative that no further attempts be made on Sully until our black ops team determines what he's sitting on and whether its of any value to us. The next ISV to arrive on Pandora is the Venture Sun, correct?" He got a nod in confirmation. "Our colleagues will have made sure that there'll be at least one or two of their own people on board. The ones worth their salt will have, at any rate. Identify those individuals and transmit kill codes to the appropriate cryo units. Hide the transmission inside the critical ship traffic. I want all agents but ours dead before that ship makes orbit."

His protégé nodded acknowledgement and waited patiently while the CEO considered, then made a decision. "We know who the bulk of our colleague's operatives are. Have our people infiltrate his organization and be prepared to seize control on my orders. I want to know everything he's up to, every plan he has in motion, every safeguard he relies on. I want our people to be ready to cut every single strand of his web at a moment's notice. I especially want to know if he's issued any further orders regarding Sully."

"And once we have the information and our operatives are in place?" his heir delicately inquired.

The slightest of black looks came over the whisperer's face as he steepled his fingers in front of him. The lights in the room made a momentary flash appear on the two-link chain ring that the CEO wore. "Then," the head of the RDA said firmly, "our golden-haired colleague will regrettably have a quite fatal accident."


	10. Happiness

Jake spent as much time as possible with his mate and son over the next few weeks. He knew that things would get busy again soon, since the next semiannual gathering of the clans was fast approaching.

He'd taught unarmed defense techniques to a group consisting of the five best warriors of each of the dozen or so local clans the previous year. They had gone back to their homes to begin teaching their fellow Na'vi; the former corporal knew only too well what the _tawtute_ were capable of, and wanted every single Pandoran to have the best possible chance of surviving the attack they all knew was coming.

Toruk Makto had told those warriors to return for offensive training after the gathering following the Venture Nova's departure. That time was almost upon them now.

Mo'at and Sir'tey had insisted that Jake make the most of this peaceful interlude, taking the bulk of his duties from him for the time being. They allowed him to meet with Norm regularly and attend the daily hunters' meetings, but that was it. "You must take all the rest you can now," his mother in law ordered. "There will be much to do soon enough. The War Council will meet at the gathering, and you must speak to all the Olo'eyktan and Tsahiks about preparing traps. Perrat will return from the Ikran Clan of the Eastern Sea once the new training is well underway, and you will need to make plans with her to get her clan ready for the arrival of the six year ship." They didn't leave him much choice in the matter.

So each morning he and Neytiri rose and walked out to the river in front of Hometree, with a crowd of many other Omatikaya. There were always children gleefully shrieking and splashing water everywhere. Prudent elders made sure to make their morning ablutions a good distance away from the merrymakers. Older children were in a hurry to bathe and run in order to get first choice of all the breakfast dishes that A'tey and her helpers prepared each morning. Young men bathed in groups, showing off for the benefit of the young women nearby. Couples bathed each other, not infrequently disappearing into the foliage on the far side of the river.

Jake and Neytiri waded into the water with their son and had fun playing with the baby while giving him his morning bath. Jak'itan had not been pleased with the cool water at first, like most infants, but his mother had persevered until the ritual became something tolerated, then finally enjoyed. The new father distracted his son by clowning around in the water in every way he could think of (entertaining his mate and quite a few other Omatikaya in the process) until the baby was laughing and crowing at the man's antics. Jake scrubbed Neytiri's back using one of the ubiquitous apprentices' washcloths that were helpfully located along the riverbank and then held the baby so that she could do his and then get finish getting clean herself.

They headed off to breakfast after bathing, and the Olo'eyktan fetched food for the two of them while Neytiri nursed the baby and chatted happily with other mothers.

The daily hunters' meeting took place right after breakfast. A'tey went over the supplies she had on hand and what vegetables were plentiful at the moment, planning meals for the next couple of days. Sir'tey kept track of where the major herds were, and Mo'at offered whatever thoughts or advice came to her through her tsahik-sense. Hunting and gathering decisions were arrived at based on all that information, and assignments for the next day made for specific individuals. The meeting ended at that point, and the master hunter left to go pass out instructions while the chief cook went to prepare for receiving what today's gatherers were going to bring in and to begin fixing the next meal.

The baby was usually well asleep by this time, in either his parents' or grandmother's arms. Neytiri took advantage of the opportunity to wander the area around the base of New Hometree to find certain plants that grew large, soft leaves. Jake harvested a half dozen each day at her direction, which they stored in their sleeping-space. Neytiri showed her mate how to lay one of the leaves flat and place their son on it whenever they put him down. When the inevitable occurred, it was easy to clean the boy with a section of leaf and then package up the mess for disposal.

After the baby's nap they spent the remainder of the mornings visiting the child-tenders and chatting with the other parents there while the infants got used to each other and the older children played or engaged in any number of activities. Alai or one of the other healers showed up daily to check on the health of the children and the new mothers.

Lunch was followed by the daily meeting with Norm. The dreamwalkers were a fixture around New Hometree now, as many as a half dozen working alongside the Omatikaya on any given day. While only Jake and Norm had been formally accepted into the clan, the other avatar drivers were given the same courteous welcome and respect shown to any visiting Na'vi. It was a huge improvement over the situation that Jake had first walked into. The scientists were acutely aware of their good fortune and went to great lengths to be grateful and helpful guests. The humans' morale was significantly improved, for which Norm was fervently thankful. He was constantly aware of the precarious situation they were in on Pandora, as well as sharing the overwhelming need to find some way to help the people back on Earth out of the crisis they were facing. So far he was holding up well, but Jake was concerned about how much stress his friend was under and did whatever he could to help Norm out.

Mo'at was usually finished with her daily rounds by the time Jake's meeting with Norm was over and showed up to claim some time with her grandson. Neytiri often took advantage of the respite to take a nap, letting her mother gleefully whisk the baby away to go show him off, play with him, sing him songs, or tell him stories, as all grandparents had done since the beginning of time. Jake was more than happy to rub Neytiri's back or stroke her hair to help her fall asleep and then curl up with her to keep her warm.

The Olo'eyktan finally got to claim his son after the Tsahik brought the baby back for his afternoon feeding and nap. He and Neytiri happily played with Jak'itan throughout the evening until the baby was ready to go to bed for the night.

On one such evening just a couple of weeks before the next gathering, the marine lovingly watched his mate giving their son his final feeding for the day. Neytiri was happily crooning a teaching-song in a soft voice. Jake could see the baby's ears twitch occasionally as he listened to his mother sing. Contentment radiated from the young woman, filling their sleeping-space with a joyous, peaceful aura.

He watched when she laid the now-sleeping child down and then reached out to run a hand down along her arm. "I'm so glad to see you this happy. It means a lot to me," Jake said to his mate in a low voice. "I want you to be as happy as possible, as happy as I can make you."

Neytiri gave him her brilliant smile and cuddled up next to him. "When I was young, all the girls would wonder who Eywa would give them to be their mates. They all giggled when they talked about the young men, trying to guess who each one would choose." She snuggled into Jake's embrace in satisfaction. "I was sure that Eywa would send me a wonderful man, that we would live in Hometree, have children, and be very happy together for all the rest of our lives." She reached out and gently caressed his face as her eyes went soft and luminous, "I was right."

Touched, Jake leaned in and gave her a long, sweet kiss. Her eyes were shining when it ended. She reached behind her neck for a moment and brought her queue forward over her shoulder; the nerve-fibers at the end waved gently as she offered it to him. He smiled and brought his own queue forward and gladly touched it to hers for the first time in months.

Jak'itan slept peacefully while his parents reaffirmed their love for each other in the phosphorescent Pandoran night.


	11. Third Gathering

Considerable excitement arose in the Omatikaya as the gathering approached. Everyone agreed that Tsa'rit's weaving was sure to take highest honors, and Janni's shell carvings were also heavily favored. The _nantang-_ball players were determined to wrest victory from the Sighing Grass clan at this gathering and had practiced in every spare moment they could find over the past half-year.

Jake was secretly very pleased with his soccer experiment. He could see the teamwork skills of his clanmates growing almost day by day, and since it was something they enjoyed doing there was no need for him to act like a drill sergeant pounding lessons into reluctant recruits. That this was also occurring in the other Na'vi clans boded well for the coordination that would be vital when the Sky People came back, and was significantly reassuring to the former marine.

Neytiri was not quite ready for the long _ikran-_ride necessary to get to the gathering and Jak'itan was still nursing, so they would be remaining at New Hometree again.

The great weaving was carefully rolled up and covered in a protective layer of rough cloth a week prior to the event and sent off with the caravan of _pa'li_ riders who were ferrying trade goods to the site. A couple of days later Janni borrowed the jewelry she had carved for the Olo'eyktan's family and flew off to enter the pieces in the craft competition.

Jake and Neytiri received a surprise at the evening meal following Janni's departure. They were almost finished eating when one of the knife-makers approached them. The Olo'eyktan recognized the woman as one of the Na'vi who had accompanied him to the wrecked mobile lab when he'd retrieved the skull of the _palulukan_ his mate had ridden. Liran made the greeting-gesture to both of them, "_Oel ngati kameie Olo'eyktan, tsahik._"

They returned the gesture. "_Oel ngati kameie,_ Liran. How can I help you today?" Jake asked politely.

The weapon maker smiled. "Actually, I have come to help your son, Jakesully." The new parents were puzzled. Liran explained, "There has been a great deal of speculation among the knife-crafters regarding which one will make your son's first blade. He won't be able to use one for some time of course, but most of the weapon makers are vying to make a knife worthy of the son of Toruk Makto; they have sent their best efforts off to the gathering to be judged."

Liran offered a leaf-wrapped package to Neytiri with a grin, "I thought that this one might have a bit more meaning for him, even if it is not as beautiful as the others' work."

The new mother was mystified, but unwrapped the gift anyway. Neytiri's jaw dropped when the last leaf fell away to reveal a midnight black blade of a material that was easily recognizable.

The knife maker was well satisfied by the expression on the tsahik's face and said softly, "It seemed fitting to me that the _palulukan_ ridden by the mother should also serve to guard the son." Jake craned his neck to see. The knife that the woman had crafted from the thanator's claw looked wickedly sharp and was polished to a glasslike sheen.

Neytiri stroked the flat of the blade with a fingertip and smiled in reminiscence. She looked up at the knife maker, "_Irayo._ This will be an heirloom for my son. He will pass it down to his children when he tells them our story, and his children will pass it down to theirs in turn."

Liran nodded in satisfaction, and she departed with a wide grin on her face and her tail twitching happily.

The gathering was as exciting as anticipated. The crowds around the _nantang-_ball area were even larger this time, rivaling the _ikran_-riders for the greatest number of attendees. Jake shouted himself hoarse cheering on the Omatikaya, who lost to the Horse Clan in the semifinal round by a narrow margin.

Tsa'rit's work did indeed take top honors. Pohtey and her journeymen were once again singing the Song of the Sixth Toruk Makto almost nonstop for all those who saw the tapestry and then wanted to hear the song that had inspired it. Janni's nesting pendants won as well, surpassing her previous third-place finish with the night-vine necklace she had made for Neytiri. Jake was pleased that his clan was so well represented.

Fun and berry-pockets aside, the real meat of the gathering was the War Council that took place each evening. Each clan's Olo'eyktan and Tsahik, and often a couple of their senior warriors attended the meetings.

Jake, as Toruk Makto, was respected by all the clans. That respect had been strengthened by the fact that everything about the Venture Nova's visit had gone exactly as he had told them it would. The warriors that each clan had contributed to the war party that welcomed the _tawtute_ ship had reported exactly that back to their clans. Consequently, Jake's credit among the clans was quite high at the moment.

There were those who gave him that respect grudgingly, however. Ikariyu of the Green Rock Clan had followed through on his plan to scatter his people during the ship's visit, to the marine's dismay. _That's a major part of our plan to keep people safe during the six and twelve year events,_ Jake thought to himself as the group settled in for their first meeting, _Let's hope that the Venture Nova didn't take any notice of it. With any luck they'll write it off even if they did, since it was only one clan that reacted that way._

"Thank you for coming," the Omatikaya Olo'eyktan greeted the others, "Our dreamwalker allies confirm that the next harmless _tawtute_ ship is a little more than a year away, and that the first dangerous one will arrive three years after that. While we're here at this gathering I'd like to review what we did for the ship that just left, to see if there's anything we can improve on for when the next one gets here. Then I'd like to hear what everyone has thought up for traps that can be used for the six-year _tawtute._"

The Olo'eyktan of the Sighing Grass Clan spoke up, "We are still expecting the six-year _tawtute_ to target the Ikran Clan?"

Perrat had a concerned expression on her face, and Jake confirmed, "Yes. We have set up a trap to lure at least some of the Sky People away to the Ikran Clan. I'm expecting the six-year ship to have a small war party on it, but if I'm wrong and it's a large one the trap will definitely draw a lot of them off to the sea."

Jake and his inner circle had agreed that the information stolen by the RDA's computer virus be presented to the others as if it had been a deliberate tactic to draw their enemies off guard. The scientists' help would be critical in the upcoming battles, and it was vitally important that the other clans trust the dreamwalkers.

Sänume of the Tipani Clan nodded in appreciation, "Split them into smaller groups and each group will be easier to defeat. How many other places do we expect them to attack? Are the Omatikaya another target?"

Mo'at replied, "We moved to a new Hometree after the Sky People left, so they do not know where the Omatikaya are, for now. That will change eventually, of course."

Jake took over smoothly, "The _tawtute_ will want more than anything to recapture their old home at Hell's Gate. Their main focus will be on that."

"So the bulk of our warriors will be positioned around the dreamwalkers' home," Awkey summarized. "Will you have them leave their _unilt__ì__rantokx _at the Omatikaya Hometree as before?"

Norm shook his head in negation, "Not this time. Well, not most of us, anyway. This is our home now too, and we'll fight for it. We've got the most to lose if the Sky People win – they consider us traitors now. They'll kill all of us if they can." _Along with Earth's last chance for survival,_ the scientist thought to himself in anguish. "We don't want the _tawtute_ coming back here to start destroying things again. We fight." There was a round of approving nods and murmurs at the anthropologist's words, and Nasato clapped him on the back in friendly fashion.

Toruk Makto kept the meeting on track, "I'd also like to discuss our moving noncombatants safely out of the way when war comes. I'm sure that Ikariyu," he nodded respectfully at the Green Rock Clan's Olo'eyktan, "gathered a great deal of valuable information that he can share with us." He was very careful to not imply anything but respect for his colleague, but the man's expression wasn't encouraging. He turned his attention back to the group and went on with the agenda. "Finally, I'd like to discuss how the defensive training is working for everyone and confirm how many will be coming to Omatikaya for two months' worth of offensive training."

Animated conversation broke out at that. Jake was keeping a surreptitious eye on Ikariyu and wasn't completely surprised when the man muttered under his breath in a resentful tone of voice. The marine saw the Green Rock Clan's Tsahik reach out to her mate and grasp his arm with a firm hand. The Na'vi turned to her in startlement; even with the chatter going on Jake heard Vireya tell her man firmly, "Green Rock's people will learn this training because it is Eywa's will that they do."

Jake tried not to let a wince show on his face, _This does not look good._


	12. Food for Thought

The rest of the gathering went as expected. Kim Yoshi was on duty at Hometree when the_ pa'li_ riders returned from it with the supplies that they had traded for during the event. A'tey supervised the unloading of the foodstuffs. "Fill three of the large pots with water and put two hands worth of the salted fish pieces in each one," she instructed the cook-apprentices. "When they have soaked thoroughly, remove them from the water and put them into new pots to be cooked. Use the salted water to make stew from the _tapirus_ that the new hunters brought in this morning."

Kim oblingingly grabbed one of the carry-nets of dried fish off of the nearest _pa'li_ and brought it over to the apprentices. He untied the closing knot and held the bag open. "_Irayo, _Kim," said the young man as he pulled huge dried filets out of the sack. "These will be welcome indeed. We don't get sea-fish very often; there'll be a run on dinner tonight. People will welcome the salted _tapirus_ stew as well. A'tey must use our salt supply carefully, so this will be a treat for many. She is very clever in making good use out of everything available to us."

"So I see," Kim replied. _Such a little thing, and something that has a huge impact on health, that we take for granted. Even here, where so much of the planet is dangerous to us, that's one thing we've never had to worry about. Hmm. I wonder, could we produce salt and use it as a trade item? Our salt would be chemically pure though, it wouldn't have the natural native minerals in it, and those have to be important too. Maybe I can bounce the idea off of the chem guys and see what they think._

The cook-apprentice plopped the last filet into a pot of water with a grunt of satisfaction. "We'll let these soak while we're hanging the rest in the storage area. Follow me."

Kim tied the net shut and waited for his companion to offload another bag of fish, then followed him into the recesses of Hometree. He noted that the creatures in his friend's net had been dried whole; large glassy eyes stared at him out of green-brown bodies from beneath the netting. _Hmm. I really should get a few samples of these to send back to Hell's Gate for testing, at some point. They're probably just as loaded with heavy metals as everything else we've looked at, but we can't leave a single stone unturned._

They soon arrived at the area where the clan stored food not intended for immediate use. Other Omatikaya were hanging similar nets from natural projections on the surrounding tree trunks or suspending them from ropes hung high above.

Bitrey grunted as he heaved the heavy sack off his back and bent to tie a rope to it, "This might seem like a lot," he nodded to the other sacks of fish being secured, "but we'd go through it in days if we didn't use it carefully. We'll run out long before the next gathering."

_Meaning that it wouldn't be polite for me to ask for any of this for the humans,_ Kim thought. He asked the young man, "How would I go about getting some of these fish for the dreamwalker-clan? Norm'an has asked us to check as many kinds of food as possible, to see if any of it might be good for our people also."

The apprentice relieved Kim of his net and began tying another rope to it. "Simple. Find something to trade to the Sea Clan for whatever kind of fish you want. You can either wait till the next gathering and trade with them there, or arrange a trade when you find an _ikran makto_ who is going to their clan."

"_Irayo,_ Bitrey, I'll speak with Norm'an and see what we can find. Maybe the Sea Clan would like some of the fruit that grows near our home," Kim thought out loud.

The young man nodded, pleased to have been of assistance. "Let's get back to the cooking area. A'tey always needs much work done and we should not delay our return too long."

The scientist smiled, "I can understand why! I'm amazed at how she manages to feed a thousand hungry Omatikaya three times every day. Doesn't she ever take a day off?"

Bitrey grinned widely and his tail curled up in amusement as they made their way back to the ground level, "Alai has tried to get her to do so, but somehow she always manages to find her way back in. 'Just checking," she says, and then winds up working just like always!" They enjoyed a chuckle together as they headed back to the cooking area.

Jake had little trouble getting the offensive training going once everyone had arrived. He had a number of Omatikaya who were already well-versed in basic offense, thanks to the training he'd had to give the White Mountain Clan Na'vi. He was soon able to delegate most of the training to them, which freed up a considerable amount of his time.

The former marine paid a good deal of attention to the _nantang-_ball games that he insisted the trainees play as well. Developing teamwork skills was a huge area of concern to him; even more so was the need to find and train those that were natural team leaders. _Clan warriors will trust and work better with one of their own than they will with any outsider,_ he thought to himself as he watched a close match. _I'll have to make sure I get at least one team leader from each clan. I should put something together for the leaders to get them thinking in terms of tactics and strategies as soon as they've got some experience directing a unit._

He walked around to get a different view while still thinking, _When they can think tactically they'll realize how each group plays a part in the overall strategy. They'll understand what's being done and why, and then they'll be able to improvise as needed as the battle unfolds._

He met with Norm after the midday meal as usual. His friend had a particularly sour look on his face that he was obviously trying to hide. Jake thought the scientist looked like a man who'd bitten down on a fruit expecting it to be a peach only to find out it was a prickly pear instead.

They talked about routine matters while they walked around the base of New Hometree. The xenoanthropologist was politely attentive while the Olo'eyktan showed him the visiting warriors practicing and the ball games in progress. It wasn't until they reached a spot where they were all alone that he finally opened up. He stopped walking and spoke hesitantly, "Jake…."

The former corporal stopped and turned. "What's up, Norm? You've had a bee in your bonnet all day. Spit it out."

The scientist hated what he had to say. _Jake's been working so damn hard for the past year, this just isn't fucking fair. He'll probably hate me for a week for saying this, but I've got no choice._ He gestured back the way they'd come. "Jake, I don't want to minimize what you're accomplishing here. You've done an incredible job getting the Na'vi to start working together without taking away from who they are, but Jake," Norm looked at his friend with pain in his face, "It's not enough. It's not anywhere near enough." The scientist's voice became quiet, "and you know that better than I do."

The Olo'eyktan's jaw clenched, and he looked away for a long, painful moment. He stared down at the ground and spoke in a roughened tone, "You're right. We're fighting a completely defensive action. We've got no attack ships and no pilots who could fly them even if we made them. I don't want to start arming the Na'vi with guns, but there might not be any other choice. Hell, even guns won't help much against the firepower the RDA will bring in."

Jake stared his best friend in the eyes, letting the worry that he'd tried so hard to push to the back of his mind show for the first time. "What bothers me is that we're such damned sitting ducks here. I've been talking about six and twelve year ships so I don't upset the Na'vi so much, but what's to prevent the RDA from sending ISV after ISV to keep pounding at us?" His deepest fear came spilling out at last, "If we beat one ship, so what? Why can't they just send another, and another, and another? Why _wouldn't_ they?"

Norm didn't know if he was going to pass out or throw up, "Jesus, Jake!"

The marine nodded grimly, "The only reason we're still here is because Eywa stepped in. We'd all be dead if she hadn't. What happens the next time?"

The xenoanthropologist hadn't ever broached the subject, but there didn't seem to be a choice any longer. "Does she really exist, Jake? Can you talk to her? Will she help us? Help the Na'vi?"

The Olo'eyktan's eyes became unfocused for a moment as memories claimed him, a memory of a dear friend saying in her last moments, "I'm with her, Jake. She's real!" a memory of someone – something – that took on the appearance of that friend, but whose presence overwhelmed anything he'd ever experienced. A presence whose concerns and priorities were absolutely unfathomable.

His eyes refocused and he swallowed hard. "She exists," he confirmed, "but God only knows whether or not she'll choose to do anything. She doesn't interfere. We're on our own here."

"I was afraid you were gonna say that," Norm said quietly. "So what do we do?"

"I don't know, Norm," the marine replied, "I honest to God don't know."


	13. Challenger

Jake was approached by one of the visiting warriors after the morning hunters' meeting a couple of weeks after the gathering. "_Oel ngati kameie, Olo'eyktan,"_ the man greeted him, "My name is Woruo, and I would like to speak with you."

"_Oel ngati kameie, _Woruo,_"_ the marine replied. "You're from Green Rock Clan, aren't you?"

"_Irayo,_ yes I am. That is part of what I wish to speak with you about," the warrior stated.

Jake had to work to keep his ears from going straight up and betraying his interest to everyone nearby. He gestured towards the river outside, "Why don't we take a walk while we're talking, then?" The expression of understanding in the man's eyes at the suggestion was a welcome sight.

Woruo waited until they had moved out of casual earshot before speaking, then stated flatly, "You have seen how reluctant Ikariyu is to have Green Rock engage the Sky People."

The Omatikaya Olo'eyktan nodded noncommittally, not wanting to influence the warrior's words.

"He will not disobey the commands of the Toruk Makto – to do so would be madness – but he fears that the might of the Sky People is beyond even your ability," the Na'vi said apologetically. He stopped walking and turned to face Jake. "Understand, the power to destroy a great Hometree in less time than it takes _palulukan_ to hunt a meal is something we thought only Eywa herself to be capable of. Ikariyu saw the wounds that the _tawtute_ had dug into the land, he saw the burning remains of the Omatikaya Hometree, he saw the Sky People ship explode with all the fury of one of Eywa's fire mountains. He saw our weapons made all but useless against this enemy."

The warrior looked into Jake's eyes. "Ikariyu is afraid, Jakesully. He believes that Green Rock will have a better chance of surviving if we do not offend the _tawtute,_ that it would be wiser for us to hide than to fight. And I must warn you – he is not the only one among the Olo'eyktan to feel this way."

Jake had been afraid that such was the case. "If he thinks that the Sky People are going to leave Green Rock in peace he's wrong, Woruo. They don't care that Green Rock is a different clan. As far as they're concerned all Na'vi are their enemies, regardless of where they live. The Omatikaya didn't do anything to offend the _tawtute_, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. When the Sky People come back there'll be more of them, and they'll have more flying machines and more weapons. We'll need all the clans everywhere to work together to have any kind of a chance at beating them. If people start running and hiding we're guaranteed to lose. They'll just pick us off one by one, a clan at a time."

Woruo nodded sympathetically, "As I thought. All Na'vi must truly be able to act as a single pack of _nantang_ if we are to survive." Both men looked at the ground in contemplation for a few moments. Then the Green Rock warrior said softly, "You are Toruk Makto, the hand of Eywa. The Tsahiks of the Clans, those who interpret the will of Eywa, will be your greatest allies in uniting the People for this task. When you must speak to the Na'vi, be sure that the Tsahiks hear your words. They will ensure that Eywa's will is obeyed."

Jake was thunderstruck; the idea hadn't occurred to him. It took him a moment to find his voice, "_Irayo,_ Woruo. I'll remember that."

The warrior heaved a sigh of satisfaction. "That is good. In the meantime, we will work on learning well all that Eywa wishes you to teach us. And who knows? If the great fight will not be upon us for another ten years, who can say who will be Olo'eyktan of Green Rock then? The All Mother cares for her children well, and if She sees fit to make a change in leadership, She will cause it to be." Woruo gave him a friendly smile and briefly laid his hand on Jake's chest in the respect-gesture, then left to head back to the combat practice, leaving a thoughtful marine behind him.

Jake asked Sir'tey and Mo'at to meet him in his quarters after the evening meal as soon as they could get away without attracting undue notice. When they arrived he briefed them on his discussion with the Green Rock warrior.

The clan's master hunter nodded knowingly upon hearing Woruo's evaluation of the situation, "After everything the Na'vi have seen, it is understandable that there are many who are frightened at the power the _tawtute_ have shown."

"But Ikariyu is an Olo'eyktan!" Neytiri protested, "Jake is Toruk Makto, chosen by Eywa! Surely he can See that She is protecting us, through him!"

Sir'tey was sympathetic, "Even _palulukan_ can become frightened and run away under the right circumstances, Neytiri. He may be more powerful than what frightens him, but a strong enough fear can make anyone forget their strength."

Mo'at added in a contemplative tone, "And the strength of the Na'vi in this coming battle rests upon all of us working together; that much She has made clear." She looked at her son-in-law, "Woruo is correct in saying that the Clan Tsahiks will ensure that Eywa's will is done. " She winced and shook her head ruefully, "It has not been happened for many generations, but a Tsahik has the power to declare the Clan Leadership open if the All Mother wishes it done. I have no doubt Vireya would do so if Eywa told her to, regardless of the personal pain it would cause her."

Everyone was floored at the thought. Sir'tey hastened to add, "Or perhaps Woruo was thinking of challenging Ikariyu for the leadership?"

The Tsahik had a pained look on her face still. "That could split Green Rock in two. We need the clan whole."

Jake had been listening to the two seniors talk, and chimed in, "But that would be an internal Clan matter. You said that Toruk Makto doesn't interfere with other clans. So we can't get involved, right?"

His mother in law was not happy. "That is correct. It seems there is nothing we can do for now. Either Eywa chooses to make a change, or someone within Green Rock must do so."

Sir'tey offered, "Woruo does not strike me as a frightened man. He is here willingly, making sure that he learns what Eywa has told Jake to teach us. He came to Jake on his own to warn him about Ikariyu. We should build on that; he can make sure that Green Rock gets the training they need. If Ikariyu gets over his fear, well and good. If not, then their warriors will be prepared to join the battle without him if need be."

"Even if Woruo does challenge Ikariyu and win, what about the others?" Neytiri demanded. "How many other Olo'eyktan will give in to their fears, and what can we do about it?"

Jake shook his head and snorted ruefully. _The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,_ he thought bitterly. How in the world was he going to fix this?


	14. Tactical

Perrat arrived from the Ikran Clan of the Eastern Sea a week later, as expected. "We are making progress on establishing temporary camps," she reported. "Are you certain that we cannot use the natural caves in the cliffs? There are so many of them, it would be much easier. We would leave nothing visible from the entrances to give our people away."

Norm shook his head regretfully, "I'm afraid not. The Sky People have ways of seeing without eyes. They'd know your people were in the caves. One shot from a flying machine and they'd collapse it on everyone inside. Your clanmates would be crushed, or suffocated – or starved."

The Olo'eyktan visibly deflated. "And if one cave were so easily destroyed, it would not take them long to do the same to all of them. The Omatikaya Hometree all over again."

She looked to her Tsahik and master hunter, who she'd brought with her. The hunter responded to the look of dismay on his clan leader's face, "If we cannot use the caves, then we cannot – and we have already saved many lives by avoiding such traps. Our clan lands may be mostly shore and sea cliff, but we will find safe havens for all our people." Perrat nodded, grateful for the reinforcement.

The Ikran Clan's Tsahik straightened suddenly. Mo'at questioned her colleague, "Mirran, what is it? You've thought of something?" Everyone looked at the visitor intently.

The woman spoke slowly, as if the idea were still taking shape. "Most of our lands are shore and sea cliff, which we cannot use because the _tawtute_ will find them too easy to attack. We must find other havens. But who says that those places must be within our clan lands?"

Perrat caught the idea immediately and ran with it. "We could send those that we cannot hide in our own territory to stay temporarily with other clans. Many of our people have mates that came from other locations. They could visit their birth-clans temporarily, during the time the ship is here."

"Or even set up your temporary camps in other clans' lands, with their permission," Sir'tey added excitedly.

Neytiri said cautiously, "You will need to forewarn the other clans of this. They will be looking to scatter their own people as well – they will need to know of additional Na'vi well in advance."

"We'll look for some more good camps here, you can send as many as you want to the Omatikaya," Jake offered.

Perrat waved a hand at him in negation, "The offer is appreciated, but when the _tawtute_ find out where you and your clan now live, I think you will be hard pressed enough to get all your own to safe spots. You might well want to consider moving some of your folk out to other clans."

"And not to crash the party," Norm said ruefully, "but you have to keep in mind that the temporary encampments may need to be abandoned on a moment's notice."

Mo'at added gloomily, "Or they may need to be made permanent."

Jak'itan was sleeping in his carrier, and Neytiri spoke quietly so that she didn't wake her son. "You should plan on moving the very young, the very old, and the pregnant women into the temporary camps well ahead of the ship's arrival."

The Ikran Clan's Olo'eyktan nodded acknowledgement of that piece of wisdom. "And we should not have the others leave much later." She turned to her master hunter, "O'rot'e, as soon as we have the first camp set up I want groups of our people to practice evacuating. Have one group at a time travel to a camp. It will get them used to moving quickly, and it will familiarize everyone with the safe locations."

"Use them to get the sites set up," Jake suggested. When Perrat looked at him quizzically, he explained, "You'll need to set up cooking hearths. Your people will need to learn where they can gather food, where they can hunt game, find water. You'll need to lay in food stores."

"And medicines, and sleeping-hammocks," Mo'at added. "Giving your people tasks to do will make them feel that they are doing something useful that will help them survive the next battle. It will make the waiting easier on them."

Perrat exhaled hugely, but nodded in agreement. "This will be a huge amount of work, given the number of safe places we will need to create." A comforting thought crossed her mind, "Perhaps this is why Eywa has been sending us extra fish this past year. Surely She would See her childrens' need and respond to it. With as much time as we have, we could surely stock all our own camps and help provision others' besides, if these runs continue as they have. Dried fish will keep for a very long time, if it is well cared for."

A definite air of relief swept through the group at this interpretation of what had been a troubling situation. "That must surely be the answer," Sir'tey commented gratefully.

A number of side conversations broke out at that point. Norm leaned over and asked in an undertone, "Jake, what are we going to do about the thermal sensors? You're right that groups of people hiding in caves would be easy to spot and take out, but doesn't that hold true for any of these smaller groups? What are you gonna do about them?"

The marine replied glumly, "I don't know yet Norm. Best I can think of right now is to keep the groups so small that they're not much value as targets."

The scientist winced, "Not a great option. You know how many safe camps you'll have to set up and provision to get the numbers down that low? And if all groups are that size, they'll wind up coming for 'em anyway."

Jake had a pained expression on his face, "After they retake Hell's Gate, you mean."

"Yeah. Right. Thanks for reminding me," Norm replied in a sour tone.

Perrat turned back to Jake, "So. We will scatter our people and leave them enough warriors to protect the camps. We will have more warriors at clan-home to defeat whatever forces the Sky People send to try and find your son."

Jake nodded, "And the bulk of our warriors will be scattered widely around the dreamwalkers' home."

O'rot'e frowned, "You're certain that will be the _tawtute's_ main target?"

"We figured the six year ship is going to have three targets," the marine explained. "What they want most of all is to get the dreamwalkers' home back. The land here is too hostile; they have to have a secure base to work from."

"And they will want to continue digging up the land as they did before," Mo'at added in distaste.

Jake agreed and continued, "They know I led the last attack, and they'll assume I'll lead the next one. If they can take my son they'll have leverage to use against me, so they'll probably send some kind of force to do that, even if it's a small one. So we make a trap out of it."

"And the third target?" the hunter asked.

"Information," Norm responded. "We threw them out so fast last time that there wasn't any time for them to warn their people on their home world. The ones we kicked out won't get home for almost four years yet. They have almost no idea what they'll be up against, except that it was something strong enough to wipe out all the warriors they had sent here."

Sir'tey nodded in understanding, "They only know that something here is very dangerous. If they are wise they will move cautiously until they know what they are dealing with."

"The message they sent said that they only wanted to talk, that they were bringing many supplies for our dreamwalker friends as gifts to prove that they only wanted to speak with us," Jake explained.

"You do not believe this?" O'rot'e demanded.

The Omatikaya Olo'eyktan shook his head grimly, "Not for a minute. The ship left Earth pretty quickly; it's possible that it doesn't contain a large invasion force, but it's likely that they'll have enough people to make a try at the dreamwalkers' home."

Norm knew Jake well, and he sensed something else. "You think parleying with us is an attempt to gather information?"

The marine nodded assent, "Makes sense, doesn't it?" He looked around the circle of Na'vi. "Like Sir'tey said, they don't know much at this point. If they were bringing a huge force, why would they bring so many supplies for the dreamwalkers and say they wanted to talk? It may be to put us off our guard, I grant you, but…."

The scientist sat up straight, "It's a cover. A diversion. While we're negotiating, they're doing… what?"

Jake grimaced, "I don't know, it's only a guess. But if it was me, and I had all the time, supplies, and warriors that I needed, making a hasty first move wouldn't be my preferred plan."

"Much better to move slowly until one is sure of being able to take the prey," Sir'tey agreed grimly.

"How do we plan for such a thing?" Mo'at wanted to know.

Jake looked at Norm, "We have the dreamwalkers use their _tawtute_ machines to find out all they can about the new Sky People," he turned to Perrat, "and we keep our warriors scattered enough so that we can catch any of them wandering around outside the dreamwalkers' home."

Perrat agreed, "The Sky People have no jungle-sense. If they are outside, the forest itself will betray their presence to us. We will be able to catch them easily."

"If we catch anyone, then the _tawtute_ get thrown out as soon as the dreamwalkers have their supplies," Jake concluded. He tried not to grimace, imagining what it would actually take to force an ISV to leave if it were determined to stay. That was something he didn't yet have any answer for.


	15. Emergency

"I want to speak with A'tey and see how much dried _talioang_ we have available from the last big hunt," Jake said to his mate while bouncing his son on his hip. They'd just finished their morning baths in the river, and the baby had put up a fuss when his mother had pulled him away from his splashing in the silvery water, objecting to the interruption of his fun. Neytiri was getting her necklaces on and settled while her mate continued, "Perrat will be leaving to go home this afternoon and I'd like to send what we can spare with her. We'll be fine with the rest of what we have on hand, and Sir'tey said we'll be able to hunt the big herd in Fifth Area as soon as the rut is over in a couple of weeks."

Neytiri got her jewelry as child-proofed as it was likely to get and reached out for her son in approval. "That would be a welcome gift, I'm sure. The weapon-makers should have plenty of arrowheads from the new stone they found a couple of months ago by now; I'll see what they can spare as well."

The Olo'eyktan handed the baby over and was about to reply when a scream of pure panic split the early morning air. The cry was almost on top of them. Everyone exploded into action. Half the adults seized children and elders to get them to safety underneath Hometree; the other half ran for the source of the sound. Warriors came at speed with whatever weapons they had in hand, or with none at all.

Jake had made only four bounds through the water when the source of the commotion appeared. A screaming woman emerged from a stand of river grasses carrying an unconscious child of seven or eight years in her arms. His blood ran cold at the sight of the water pouring off the child; that and the locked jaw told him everything. _Damn!_ he swore to himself as he fought to close the distance faster, _God, I hope this just happened and she found him quickly!_

The other Omatikaya slowed as they saw the cause for the alarm and a few began to make mourning-cries, but the marine ran right up to the woman. To her shock he seized the boy by the hips and all but ripped him from her arms to hang him upside down. _God, please let this work on a Na'vi!_ Jake reached for the child's face with one hand and dug his fingers into the mouth to pry the locked jaw loose. It opened, and an astonishing amount of water gushed out of the filled lungs.

The marine didn't waste time waiting, he ran for the shore while deliberately bouncing hard to help get the water out of his charge and air back in. When he was on the sand he bounced one or two more times, then laid the kid flat on his back. Neytiri ran through the crowd of confused Omatikaya with tears in her eyes and demanded, "Jake, what are you doing?"

The Olo'eyktan didn't hear his mate or the crowd around him. He gulped in a great breath. _Jesus, I've got to be careful! I don't know what the lung capacity of a Na'vi is to start with, and this is just a kid!_ He pinched the boy's nose shut with the fingers of his left hand and sealed his mouth to the child's. He blew half his own air supply in, afraid of inadvertently doing further damage. The marine picked his head up and listened intently to the passive exhale and gurgling of fluid. _Not enough. I can put more in him._ Jake inhaled again, making sure not to take too much air in himself, put his mouth over the boy's and forcefully blew even more air into the starved lungs.

Murmurs started running through the crowd, sounds of confusion and concern. Neytiri was worried, and was about to lay a hand on her mate in caution. Jake had paused to listen again – and this time he thought he'd heard something. "Come on kid, stay with me," he urged as he inhaled again and blew a third breath into the passive figure. His mate's hand touched the marine's shoulder, intending to pull him back – and then an explosion of coughing and retching erupted on the sand below.

Jake seized the boy by the hips again, flipped him over and held his butt in the air to help the lungs drain futher. Shock went through the assembly and nearly everyone stepped back a pace in pure reflex. The Olo'eyktan was oblivious. "That's it, spit it all out, it's okay, you're safe," he crooned comfortingly. The boy choked and retched and gasped until he'd coughed up most of the water he'd swallowed. As soon as he had air to cry with he wailed, "_Ma'…sa'...nu!"_

The boy's mother had been on her knees in the shallows, fists pressed to her mouth as she watched the Olo'eyktan's incomprehensible actions, praying to Eywa as she'd never prayed before. Her eyes went wide when her firstborn had started coughing, her ears gone flat to her head. When she heard the familiar cry she'd thought she'd never hear again she unfroze and sprang at the child to take him into her arms. "Jirret! Jirret!" she sobbed as she wrapped herself around the boy.

Jake helped settle the child in an upright position in his mother's lap and turned his head to the side, "Someone get Alai!" he commanded. A dozen Omatikaya went running. He turned back to the youngster without looking to see whether he'd been obeyed.

The woman had her arms wrapped around her child in a grip that would have taken a prybar to loosen. She was rocking him back and forth, sobbing "_Irayo, Eywa, irayo… oe-ya Jirret…"_ The boy was crying and breathing well but still coughing a bit more than the marine liked. He reached out and touched the child's shoulder to reassure himself. The mother's eyes were streaming tears that she made no move to wipe away. She saw the man's hand touch her son and looked up, "_Irayo, Olo'eyktan, irayo…."_

He smiled in relief and laid a comforting hand on the child's head. Alai arrived at that point and thumped down onto her knees beside them. He turned to the healer gratefully, "His lungs were full of water. I got it out and got him breathing again, but his chest is going to be weak for a while. He'll probably start running a fever in a day or so. Breathing will hurt him for a few days, but you have to keep him breathing fully and deeply as much as possible to get him over it. Keep him upright as much as you can, that'll help. You'll probably have to give him something to help him sleep, too. His lungs have taken a huge insult."

The healer nodded grimly, "We will start giving him medicines right now, then," She gestured to those nearby to help the mother stand and to move the boy to the healers' compound, "And when he is out of danger you will teach all the healers how to do as you have done." The tone of her voice brooked no argument.

Woruo stepped forward from the crowd that surrounded them and said just as firmly, "And you will teach me as well." "And I," said a familiar voice behind Jake. The marine had been oblivious to Perrat's arrival on the scene. Murmurs filled the air as others indicated their intent to learn from the former dreamwalker.

Jake helped the mother to stand. Jirret's cries had quieted to sobs; there was no doubt the boy had been badly frightened. He smiled at the child to break some of the tension, reached out and tousled the boy's hair. "From now on, stick to washing the outside of your body and not the inside, okay?"

Jirret gave a weak and abashed smile. A round of relieved chuckles went through the crowd. Alai gestured to her helpers peremptorily, and everyone stepped back as mother and son were escorted off to the healers' enclave. A lone voice started singing a heartfelt song of gratitude to Eywa for the life that had been saved, and it was soon joined by others.

Jake gave a huge sigh as the rush of adrenaline finally left him. Only then did the fact that he was surrounded by a huge crowd really register. He wanted to sit down and rest, but forced himself to stay firmly upright in front of the clan. He saw all the wide, wondering eyes. Woruo gave him a firm nod before shepherding his fellows back to their interrupted activities. The crowd began to disperse, animated conversations springing up everywhere as they went.

Neytiri's eyes were as wide as anyone else's as she approached her mate. "Jake, what did you _do?_" she asked in an awed tone.

"That is an answer I would like to hear myself," Mo'at said softly from behind them.

The marine whirled to see the Omatikaya Tsahik, who had obviously been watching and seen the entire incident.

The impact of what he'd done crashed over Jake. "Oh shit! I didn't mean…. I couldn't just let him…," he stuttered.

His mother in law spoke quietly, "It does not matter, Jake." She smiled gently, "No one need ever stop to ask Eywa's permission to save a life."

It didn't completely assuage the guilt he felt. He'd been the one who'd chewed out the Hell's Gate scientists against contaminating Na'vi culture, and he himself was turning out to be the biggest violator of that directive. _Still,_ he thought to himself, _not everything humans do is bad, is it?_ He remembered Grace and the picture of her surrounded by happy Na'vi children. _Maybe there's a little bit of room for humans on Pandora after all?_


	16. Newbie

Sara Evans puffed as she jogged her avatar around the outdoor track. It had taken the better part of three months to get through all the interminable neuromuscular and coordination tests that the staff had insisted on. They'd also insisted that she take it slow with the avatar, only allowing her an hour or two's link time in the morning, and the same in the afternoon. _Pretty much the minimum necessary to take care of the physical body and not much more,_ she thought to herself sourly.

She'd only really been able to spend significant time in link during the past three months, and that had only underscored how inadequate the tank-stims had been in building any real strength into her second body. Sure, the muscles **looked** nice and felt great, but when her first real attempt at a sustained workout reduced them to what felt like jelly, she resigned herself to the slow conditioning program that the fuzzy haired Dr. Patel had urged on her. _And only being in link a couple hours a day doesn't help the process much,_ she fretted as she came back to the starting line and began another circle around the track.

Still, she had to admit that the staff had dealt fairly with her over the past half year. _They gave me everything they have on Pandoran fliers, even though it was pretty obvious that they were doing it to minimize the amount of time I spent in link._ And they were treating her decently. _Access to all the information I need to begin the research I came here to do – for all the good that does me now._

Sara had tried to send a test message to Earth just for the heck of it. Nothing provocative, just a simple query. Dr. Patel had shown up at her workstation within minutes, apologizing profusely but at the same time adamant that no communications that hadn't been approved would be permitted in or out. She'd shrugged it off, having expected as much. _At least they're being honest and upfront about it._

Speaking of being honest, she had to admit that at least some of the link time she'd missed had been because of her own absorption in her work. Flight fascinated her. It always had. _Throw some wind tunnel test results or an aerodynamic analysis at me and I won't come up for air till I turn blue._ She smiled through her chagrin, given that she was very much blue at the moment.

She finished rounding one end of the track and headed down the straightaway again, picking up her pace a bit as she returned to her original line of thought. _They all seem to sincerely believe that the RDA – or at least the group that was here - set them up. Whether they're right or not, who knows, but they're all consistent. Except for that Robinson guy, though._ Sara resisted the urge to grimace. _That one strikes me as…creepy. Nice enough on the outside, agrees with everyone else, doesn't make any waves, but…. _

An involuntary shiver went through her feline form, and the end of her tail twitched nervously. She berated herself for betraying the state of her thoughts like that and clamped down hard on the physical reaction. Not as easily said as done, when you were new to the body you were trying to control.

_If there's anyone on this base with a hidden agenda, it's definitely Mr. Hey-I'm-a-Nice-Guy,_ she thought. _But whose agenda is it? Is everyone else acting cool while they let him try to get under my skin so he can tell them what I'm really thinking, or is he acting for someone else? The RDA? Himself?_

She shook her head to clear it. _Gah! Maybe he's just thinking about hitting on the new girl and I'm just imagining things._ Somehow though, she didn't think so. Six months was more than enough time to try and make a move on her, if he was so inclined. _Not that he's been standoffish either, but it just doesn't feel like that. _ No female went out on a long term assignment with a mostly male population without having keenly honed radar for that kind of thing. He was interested in her, yes, but that particular alarm had been markedly silent.

Evans blew out a breath that was half exertion and half frustration. The initial panic she'd felt on her arrival had thankfully come to naught, though the longer-term peril remained. _At least I don't feel like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs._ She smiled at the similie; in fact, she _was_ a long-tailed cat. At the moment, anyway.

Her ruminations were interrupted by a squawk from the comm-link at her ear. "That should be enough for today," the voice of Max Patel announced. "Head over to the gardens, it's your turn on the duty roster and it'll help your fine motor control."

"Got it, on my way," Sara acknowledged as she dropped down to a walk and left the track for the area where food for the avatars was grown. The manicured gardens were huge, as they had to provide food for nearly two dozen of the bioengineered bodies. The plants were lush, much larger than their wild counterparts.

Evans sniffed the air appreciatively; whoever was on shift before her had been turning weeds into the soil. The pleasantly rich warm smell of the loam filled the air as she walked through a group of puff daddy fungus. They hadn't been harvested in a while; she could see quite a few of the small pink balls under the plants' coverings. The exercise had caused this body's appetite to stir, so she paused to pick a generous handful of the spongy little morsels, popping them into her mouth one by one as she headed for the toolshed. As odd as they looked, they were quite tasty. _Enough heavy metals and noble elements in these things for one bite to drop me in my tracks, if I tried to eat them in my human body, but I could snack on them all day in my avatar. Wonder if there's any such thing as a fat Na'vi?If I had an unlimited supply of these things I'd be a beach ball in a month._

She popped the last puff daddy into her mouth as she reached the toolshed and snagged a hoe that was leaning against the door. From the look of it, it had only been left there a short time ago. Sara checked the field notes posted on the wall; the lionberries were being cultivated today. She grimaced and immediately searched out a sturdy set of work gloves; the sharp leaves of the cactus-like plants weren't fun to deal with.

The engineer headed off in the proper direction. The lionberries weren't far, and it was obvious where the previous gardener had left off. She sighed and began hooking the invasive weeds out from under the sharp leaves with her hoe. Everyone was required to spend some of their link time in the gardens, since the avatars needed to eat too. _Spend six years in cryo getting here so you can do critical research, and wind up doing manual labor cultivating cacti and fungus. That's got to grate on some of these guys,_ she thought.

Sara actually didn't mind working in the gardens. It gave her more time in her avatar, for starters. There was something primally satisfying in the rich scent of the soil, the sharp smell of chopped weeds. The sensitive nose of her avatar registered those scents as normal, healthy, and pleasant. On the rare occasions she'd been in the wastelands on Earth, outside the cities, the smells were acrid and caustic, making you instantly reach for something to cover your face with. _Definitely __**not**__ a healthy smell!_

She enjoyed the warmth of the strong sunlight on her skin, or the shivery cool moisture on the days that fog shrouded the grounds. Evenings were the most pleasing of all – she was secretly delighted by the way everything (including her avatar) came alive with bioluminescence when the sun went down. More often than not she delayed coming out of link in the evenings once she'd parked her avatar on its cot in the barracks, watching the phosphorescent night as long as possibile.

Her hoe snagged on a stubborn root, and she dug into the ground to dislodge it. The fiber snapped with a hissing noise, and she pulled it free of the lionberry plant with satisfaction. She continued working until her time-sense warned her that she was nearing the end of this link period. _Fine by me. Between the running and the gardening, I'd guess this body's going to be feeling a bit sore by tomorrow morning._ She returned the hoe and the gloves to the toolshed and headed for the barracks. A long hot shower in the caustically alkaline Pandoran water headed off at least some of the muscle aches that were sure to arise later. Her avatar had a hearty appetite – the handful of puff daddies had worn off long ago.

After she'd eaten, she went to the barracks and stretched the bioengineered body out on its cot with a sigh. _Maybe I'll leave the tetrapteron tail analysis for tomorrow, _she thought tiredly. _It's not like my research is going anywhere, or that I'm under any time constraints or anything. _After six months of working with her avatar she knew that the sensations of fatigue she was experiencing now would be gone the moment she came out of the link, but for once she didn't feel like jumping out of the link bed to go analyze more holographic interpretations of Pandoran flier anatomy. _Think I'll just take the night off,_ she decided. She closed her avatar's golden cat eyes and prepared herself for the disorienting sensation of having her awareness catapulted back to the body she had been born into. _What in the world could happen in one night?_

The slightest of shudders went through her feline frame as the shift operator in the link room initiated the sequence that severed Sara's neural control from her Pandoran doppelganger. The blue and cyan body went unnaturally still as the _anima_ of its driver left it entirely. Only the slow, slight rising and falling of the chest gave any indication that the body was still alive.

From the far end of the barracks, the avatar controlled by Dave Robinson watched the still form for quite some time.


	17. Conference

Sara sat quietly near the back of the large conference room. The department heads met on a weekly basis to manage the day to day tasks of running the installation, but this was the once-a-month general meeting where the larger issue of progress towards their goals of assisting Earth and the Na'vi were discussed by everyone.

Norm had started these meetings shortly after SecOps and the other RDA personnel had been kicked off of Pandora. He hadn't needed anyone to tell him that the scientists remaining on the planet needed a purpose, goals that they could believe wholeheartedly in, if they were to remain sane and have any chance of making their sacrifices meaningful. "Let's start with Botany today," the _de facto_ head of the Avatar Project suggested.

The man who had taken over for Grace Augustine winced. "As far as finding us another food source, we've made no progress. Like most plants, the ones on Pandora extract water and nutrients from the environment around them. We can add acids to counteract the caustic alkalinity they absorb from the water, but we haven't been able to successfully purge them of heavy metals and contaminants and leave any appreciable amount of edible matter behind."

"What about using the plants to absorb pollutants from Earth soil?" someone in the room asked.

The scientist shook his head in negation. "No matter what we do, we haven't been able to get any of them to survive for any length of time in an Earth-equivalent atmosphere. They wouldn't stand a chance under acid conditions either – they evolved in an alkaline environment. The second we expose them to any kind of an acid they keel over and die no matter what kind of atmosphere they're in at the time. We'll keep looking, of course, but so far we haven't come up with anything useful. For either purpose," he concluded.

Norm moved the meeting along, "Zoology, anything to report?"

Kim Yoshi spoke up immediately. "Ditto as far as food sources go. The animals are eating the same plants that Biology," he nodded respectfully to the section head, "isn't having any luck with – or other animals that do. There are lots of critters we haven't tested yet though, so we'll keep on looking," he forced an optimistic tone into his voice at that last.

"How about feeding the Pandoran grazers on contaminated Earth plants?" a geologist asked. "They're eating equivalent stuff here, as far as I can see. If we grow whatever can survive in the wastelands and feed it to them, it's possible they could digest it into a less toxic form. If they could stomach it in the first place, that is."

Yoshi nodded thoughtfully, "That's a point. No reason we couldn't try it. We have seed stock for a lot of common Earth plants here. If Chemistry can duplicate some wasteland contaminants and we grow the seed in it, we could see if the grazers would eat it, and what they metabolize it into."

A hopeful voice chimed in, "And you could keep the animals in a Pandoran-environment zoo on Earth. Just harvest and truck the wasteland plants in to them."

There was a definite uptick in the mood of the room, and Norm lost no time capitalizing on it. "Do it. Chemistry, whip up some of the likelier batches of gunk for Biology to start growing some weeds in. Kim, start thinking about what grazers would be the best candidates for some new munchies." He turned to Gene on his left, "Geology?"

The senior geologist shook his head. "No luck refining a growing medium out of any of the local material so far. Well, not without having to spend a prohibitive amount of energy doing it, anyway. We'll keep working on it. Short of dropping Earth into a massive volcano and letting the magma purge everything, I don't see that geology's going to be able to contribute much on the home front."

"That would solve our problems with the RDA though," Max quipped to rueful chuckles.

"What about them? What do we do when they get here?" a biologist asked. The questions immediately silenced the room.

Norm sighed. "The next ship won't be a problem." He tried to sound confident for his colleagues' sake. "We tell them that they drop their supplies or become freeze dried mummies in Pandora orbit for the rest of time. I'm betting that'll make them pretty cooperative. They left Earth long after what happened here; they'll have mostly miners on board, no military personnel to speak of. We shouldn't have any trouble from them."

"And the Venture Comet?" Chris Miller asked. "What do we do in four years when they get here?" It was the first time that question had been asked publicly.

"That's a problem," Norm reluctantly admitted. "They've been sent in direct response to what happened here. They _say_ that Quaritch and Selfridge were acting without orders and the RDA is willing to let bygones be bygones in exchange for resuming mining operations."

"You don't believe that crap?" Miller demanded indignantly.

The xenoanthropologist shook his head, "Not for a minute. It's possible, I grant you. They'd like nothing better than to get this place back without a fight and restart the mining immediately." He could see the temptation to hope that forgiveness was a possibility in more than one set of eyes in the room.

"Which means that the first thing they'd probably do is start excavations at the Omatikaya's old Hometree," someone commented bitterly.

"Setting off the Na'vi again," Max agreed.

"Speaking of which, have you learned anything from them that could help us?" the head of the geology department asked Norm directly.

Norm spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness, "They have an incredible respect for the land and the wildlife, and take only what they need to survive. They exist in near-perfect equilibrium with their environment." He left out the fact that Eywa was a huge factor in maintaining that state. "Their culture focuses primarily on the clan-level. Na'vi as a whole are seen as a planetary-wide clan, and individuals are clan components. Each person identifies themselves as part of a clan first, and as an individual second."

"Doesn't sound like much to go on," Gene mused.

"Good luck getting everyone on Earth to think of themselves as part of a single clan," someone in the back commented bitterly.

The head of the Avatar Project moved the conversation along to avoid letting anyone linger on the sentiment. "Well, we'll keep working at it, like everyone else."

A young scientist sitting next to Sara changed the subject, "Getting back to the Venture Comet. If they have any kind of military force with them, we're screwed. What do we do then?"

That was the big question Norm didn't have an answer for. "They left Earth orbit so fast that we're hoping whatever force they have onboard isn't too large, but even something the size of SecOps would be a problem of course. The Na'vi don't want anything to do with the RDA; they're preparing for war. With this much advance warning, all the Na'vi on the planet will be mobilized, so we'll be in a much better position than we were last time. If the Comet is upfront about peaceful negotiations, we're in a good position. If they have a SecOps sized force, the Na'vi should be able to swamp it with their bare hands given the numbers they'll bring." Norm deliberately avoided bringing up the subject of the technological advantage such a force would have, and the amount of devastation it could cause. "If they've got a full scale invasion force – which isn't the most likely scenario, given how fast they launched – the numbers the Na'vi can bring will help, but we'll need to do everything we can to even the scales." He nodded significantly to the Metallurgy head, who had nominal control of the stereolithography plant.

"In the meantime," Norm turned back to the others and concluded, "we have almost four years before the Comet arrives. We won't have any problems with supply as long as we get what the Venture Sun is bringing. So we've got four years to find out how to save Earth. Anything you can think of, anything you notice, no matter how farfetched it seems, bring it to me or your department head. We don't have the time to leave any stone unturned. Dismissed."


	18. Confrontation

Sara was almost the first person out of the conference room when the meeting ended. Something Spellman had said had caused several things to click in her mind, and she wasn't going to let him get away until she had confronted him about it.

Norm had hoped to be able to slip away quietly, but when the straw-haired engineer appeared in his path, deliberately blocking the corridor, he sighed in resignation. The woman was clearly looking for him and loaded for bear. He preferred to make this as private as possible, so as soon as she opened her mouth he commanded, "My office." She closed her mouth and fell in step right beside him, determined to not allow him to wiggle away again.

Neither said a word until they were inside the space he'd appropriated from a former RDA mining bureaucrat. He gestured to a seat in front of his desk as he walked around it to assume his own, "What can I do for you today?"

Evans took a step towards the desk but did not sit down. Her eyes were blazing. "You want me to pilot the shuttle out on the airfield for you. You want me to be your freaking air force against an RDA invasion fleet! You have got to be out of your goddamned mind if you think I'm going to be volunteering for some insane kamikaze mission!"

He let her get it out of her system then asked calmly, "What gave it away?"

She spat like an angry cat and started pacing back and forth in front of the desk. "You need the supplies the Venture Sun is bringing so badly it makes my teeth itch. Not getting them is not an option. There's an even chance that the Sun's crew _would_ prefer to die in Pandora orbit rather than deliver your supplies, given what the RDA is likely to do to them if they return to Earth with an empty cargo hold. If they do, you're screwed – unless you've got a crew that can fly that bird in your yard up to the ISV to get your stuff."

If looks could kill, the glare she pinned the xenoanthropologist with should have incinerated him on the spot. "And if that works, why stop there? Even that truck," she nodded in the direction of the shuttle with a disparaging slur, "would make a significant difference in any air action. You want me to join your merry band of native-lovers and take on the whole freaking RDA with a damned U-Haul!"

Norm couldn't help it; his face took on a stony expression. "I won't deny you could be a lot of help to us," he said coolly. "As far as the Venture Sun goes, you might consider the fact that whether or not we get those supplies affects you as much as the rest of us, like it or not."

"One person can't fly a shuttle alone, you idiot!" Evans exploded in frustration and outrage, "I'd need at least two _trained_ crewman to do anything more than get that thing off the ground, even _with_ computer assist!"

"Which is why I asked for volunteers from among those of us who have any kind of technical background," he informed her in a clipped tone. "They've been studying what information we have in the base computers, but that's not a substitute for a teacher with flight experience."

Sara was momentarily stunned into speechlessness by his brass. Or was it desperation?

Norm continued, "You have almost a year to get at least two of them trained sufficiently to act as flight crew in case the Venture Sun's crew _do_ decide to rot in orbit." He decided not to mention those who had volunteered to travel up in the shuttle's cargo bay to assist any obstreperous ISV crew to rot in orbit. "For now all I ask is that you help us get those supplies. If they aren't willing to deliver them, I won't send anyone up until there's minimal danger. We have enough supplies on hand to wait out their air and heat, so there'll be no firefighting necessary."

Evans was shocked by the offhand condemnation of what were more or less innocent bystanders, and remained silent.

The head of the Avatar project spoke clearly into the silence, "As far as the Venture Comet, as I said, it won't be here for four years yet. There'll probably be another one six years after that." He was brutally frank with her, "I suspect there'll be no ships in between, since they could solve a lot of their problems by simply starving us out. In fact, I'll give you odds on the supplies being brought on the Venture Comet being fake, poisoned, or otherwise unusable."

The blows to her composure were coming thick and fast. Sara hadn't spent her adult life designing military ships without absorbing some of the culture and thinking patterns that went with them. She could see that it was all too likely that the scientist's assessment was accurate, and wanted to moan.

Norm stood up. "I won't ask you to fight with us, against either the second or third ships. We tricked you into coming down here, and we realize you have no personal stake in this. All I ask is that you train a few of us enough so that we can get the supplies off the Sun. After that, it's up to you." He looked at her directly; Sara could see that he was being open with her. "I know that this is a lot to think about. Take your time. If you decide not to help us, I'll understand."

She finally got her voice working again, "And you'll what? Send men who've never seen a cockpit before on a suicide mission? Just have them read the manual? 'Watch out for that tree'?" Sarcasm was heavy in her voice.

He asked levelly, "What other choices do we have?"

Norm felt a small surge of vindictive satisfaction inside as he took in the engineer's shocked expression. He came around the side of the desk. "I'm sure you're aware of how much my people have to learn to be able to fly that shuttle less than a year from now. I'd appreciate it if you could give me your answer in the next few days." He walked out the door behind her without another word.

Sara wandered the base for the next two days. No one bothered her about link time or duty rosters; it was clear that everyone had been ordered to leave her alone. Everything that had come up when she'd first arrived at Hell's Gate half a year ago got reviewed and hashed over yet again.

_Damned if I do, damned if I don't,_ she thought in despair. _It's possible, if I don't help them at all, that the personnel on the Comet might go easy on me. If I can get to them. Not to mention prove to their satisfaction that I'm not a rebel. On the other hand, it's a better tactical decision to just call in an airstrike and start over, not worry about possibly sympathetic bystanders. Collateral damage. So I could be screwed anyway. If I actively cooperate with them, I'm screwed for sure. If I don't cooperate with them, who's to say that they won't shoot me as an RDA sympathizer? Aargh!_ Sara took her head in her hands and shook it as all her attempts to reason her way out of the situation ended in dead ends.

The geologist, Robinson, appeared in the corridor as she was walking around the installation that evening while trying to figure things out. He'd heard about the meeting and had decided to see if he could get the newcomer to open up to him a bit more.

It was a bad move. He could see that the woman was unnerved, anguished. "Hello, Doctor Evans. Is something bothering you this evening? You appear upset." Dave tried the same sympathetic-friend tone that had worked so well on the Omatikaya Pa'kan. It backfired badly.

Sara was well aware that Spellman had probably spread the news of their encounter all over the base by now. That the geologist was here by coincidence was just too much of a stretch. She made no movement or reply and just stared at him with an almost hostile glare.

It was unnerving. She was clearly on guard and suspicious. He almost stuttered, "My apologies for interrupting, I can see that you'd prefer to be alone. Please excuse me." It was hard to keep his pace down to a casual walk; some part of him was very uncomfortable knowing that she was behind his back, and wanted to run. It was a relief when he turned a corner and got out of her line of sight.

Norm was going over utilization reports in his office late the next day when a knock on his door interrupted him. "Damned inventories," he muttered, "Come in!" He lifted the offending sheets of paper, intending to set them aside for later, and glanced up at the opening door. He froze to see Sara standing there as if she didn't want to come any closer. "Doctor Evans?"

The engineer spoke with reluctance clear in her voice. "Have your volunteers report to me in briefing room C after breakfast in the morning," she ordered. "Clear them of as many other duties as possible. There's a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in. Have Stereolithography check their files for a shuttle flight simulator - no one touches a control on that bird until they've had at least a hundred hours sim time. They'll need flight suits. I'll need access to the control tower to show them real systems. You'll have to have someone check and repair the nav beacons."

Norm waited until she finished then nodded acknowledgement. "They'll be there. I'll get people on the rest of it right away. Thank you."

She replied tartly, "Don't thank me until those supplies are on the ground," and turned away unhappily, feeling very much caught between a rock and a hard place.


	19. Project

The silence in the RDA CEO's office was even more complete than that of Norm Spellman's after the unhappy Dr. Evans had left.

The CEO and his protégé were alone, and the cause of the lack of sound was the data they had just reviewed. That material contained the full contents of what Parker Selfridge had been able to transmit plus the data from the virus that the Venture Nova had infected the Hell's Gate base computer with. They had spent most of the day reviewing the material.

The whisperer finally spoke just as the room felt about to explode from tension. "We absolutely must have Augustine for the Project," he began. "An avatar-compatible xenobotanist is a necessity, and there is no other anywhere near her caliber. We can't afford a second stringer."

"But what if she's gone over to the rebels?" Brown Hair worried.

His superior waved a ringed hand in irritation. "We can win her over given enough time, but we need her _here_!"

"And Sully?" the director asked in an ashen tone.

The CEO went silent for a moment. The information about the former marine that had been transmitted by the Venture Nova had been the most shocking of all the revelations. "Sully's life is absolutely sacrosanct. We need him, the child he's sired, and the mother too, for good measure, and we need them all _alive._ We must know how he managed to permanently transfer his consciousness to his avatar, and it's critical to find out how he made it fertile. The Project's timeline would be advanced by decades with that information. It's possible that it would be viable within five years once we had them here in the genetics lab!"

"The Comet won't reach Pandora for four years yet. If they can catch Sully and his family within six months and head back immediately, they'll reach us in ten years. Do we have fifteen years for the Project to reach viability, given that we have only three more deliveries of unobtanium incoming?" Brown Hair asked.

The whisperer frowned and thought to himself for a moment. "We'll have to have the Venture Comet's crew do as much advance analysis of the Sullys as possible while they're in transit. The three of them will have to be sedated and transported in Avatar tanks, and the tanks have a great deal of diagnostic equipment built in. We'll have to make do with what they can send us – I don't want the Sullys damaged until we can examine them in our labs here. Order a Pandoran-equivalent environment unit constructed immediately. Clandestinely, of course."

"And the unobtanium?" his protégé insisted.

"Confiscate twenty five percent of each of the remaining deliveries," the CEO commanded, ignoring the gasp of shock from his colleague. "I'll speak to our lapdogs in the government and give them a discreet heads-up. They'll make so much money short-selling unobtanium futures that they won't have any problems vetoing whatever legislation might cause us trouble."

"They'd damn well better, if they want in on the Project," Brown Hair muttered under his breath indignantly.

The tone brought a small smile to the whisperer's face. "Exactly so." A fortuitous thought crossed his mind and the smile became an expression of satisfaction. "If we have Sully and his family in our hands, we can coerce him in to giving us the secret of this consciousness networking that he's supposedly sitting on. Threaten his wife and child…."

"And he's sure to become very cooperative," his colleague agreed.

"Exactly, even without the little surprise we have planned for him. If we can discover how to implement his system and influence the consciousness of the masses directly, we'll be in a much stronger position." He mulled things over for a bit, then sat up straighter in his chair. "Begin recruiting as many people with mining experience as possible. Accelerate recruitment of mercenaries as well. We may have to lower our standards a bit to get the numbers we need, but we have to get ISVs loaded and prepared to head out to Pandora as soon as the Venture Pulsar is ready to launch. Expand the funding for our sponsored mining scholarships at all the major universities. One hundred percent tuition for qualified applicants who are willing to sign on with us after graduation. Similar offers for experienced military, particularly experienced officers."

Brown Hair asked, "What do we do about Pandora?" 

The CEO furrowed his brow and contemplated. "First things first. Just in case it becomes necessary to relocate the Project, order the Venture Sun to divert to the most hospitable alternate moon around Polyphemus and have them drop their passengers and supplies on it. Order them to establish a new base there. If our hand is forced we can move the critical elements of the Project to the new base and complete it there. Have one of the ISVs loaded with everything needed to bring the facility up to speed."

"And if the scientists at Hell's Gate have information on how Sully transferred into his Avatar permanently? They have to have been involved somehow. They could die without the Sun's supplies. If the Comet can't catch Sully we may well be able to get the information we need from the scientists, if they're still alive by that time." He could see thoughts warring on his superior's face.

The CEO reluctantly commanded, "Divert the Sun. Between the Venture Star and the Venture Nova, they should have enough supplies to last until the Comet gets there, and if they're half starving when it arrives they'll be that much easier to subdue. Now, new orders for the Venture Comet. Augustine, Sully, and his family are to be captured alive and transported back here unharmed. If they can capture a few Hell's Gate's personnel so much the better. Recapturing the base is not a priority at the moment. The Pulsar can blast the installation off the face of the planet and we'll simply start again from scratch. The Comet can drop the diplomatic team at the new base on their way back from Pandora – it will need every warm body capable of manual labor that it can get. They're to notify us the moment they have Augustine and the Sullys in custody. That will be our cue to launch the Venture Pulsar."

The director worried, "Can we accelerate the timetable on the Pulsar's modifications? The sooner we can launch it, the better."

The CEO disagreed, "We need the weapons systems to be fully functional before it launches. They won't be able to construct anything while it's in transit. We're shorting the final testing phase badly enough as it is. We'll launch the other ISVs immediately after the Pulsar. Pandora should be subdued by the time they arrive in orbit."


	20. Expansion

"Well, at least she's training people," Jake commented philosophically to Norm as they were eating the midday meal at New Hometree.

"Yeah, but she hasn't picked a side yet," the scientist said morosely. He crunched into a slice of raw tuber and spoke around it as he chewed. "You can almost see her teeth getting pulled out while she's doing it. It's obvious that she's trying to make the best of a bad deal and doesn't like it one bit."

Neytiri cradled her son against her chest as she leaned over to pick up a fruit and said with concern, "But Sara is doing the teaching correctly, yes?"

Norm nodded and swallowed. "Down to the last detail. She's already caught a few things my people had misunderstood from the training records that would have caused serious problems later. She's a conscientious teacher, I'll give her that. Even if she's doing it just so she doesn't go hungry later, at least she's doing it."

"Doesn't matter if she likes it or not as long as she does it. How're your guys doing with the training?" Jake asked his friend.

The xenoanthropologist brightened a bit. "Two of the seven are showing some definite promise. Sara says Andy's got an instinctive feel for three dimensional movement, and Nick isn't far behind. She thinks she can make pilots out of both of them if we have enough time."

That got Jake's attention. "If we could pull off the same thing with the Sun and the Comet as you did with the Nova and steal another shuttle or two…" he mused.

"It'd definitely be a huge help. Not anywhere near enough to tip the odds in our favor," he said to caution the others, "But it'd give us more options, for sure."

The group animatedly began discussing the possibilities. Neytiri completely forgot about the piece of fruit she was holding in light of this intriguing speculation – until it was unexpectedly grabbed out of her hand.

The baby had been fascinated by the colorful object being waved around just over his head, and the sweet tangy smell coming off of it tickled his nose enticingly. It came directly into his reach as his mother gestured, and with a sudden "Aaah!" the boy reached up and snagged the prize right out of Neytiri's hand. In triumph he brought the fruit right to his mouth, chomped down, and promptly grimaced with an expression on his face that sent all the adults into gales of laughter.

A snickering Neytiri reached out to take the fruit back, assuming the child wouldn't want it, but as soon as she touched it Jak'itan shrieked and promptly brought it back to his mouth, refusing to give up the treat. He had the same reaction to the taste, but pulled away insistently from his mother's outstretched hand.

"Stubborn little thing," Mo'at chuckled as she wiped laugh-tears from her eyes. "He won't give it up even if it makes him sick to his stomach."

"Like someone else I know," Neytiri commented dryly.

"He knows what he wants when he sees it," Jake grinned and held out his hands for his son, "Don't you, little guy?" His mate handed the baby over and Jak'itan willingly settled into his father's arms while gnawing away despite the odd taste, happily making a mess of his face as he explored this new food.

"He's gonna wind up wearing most of that," Norm chuckled.

Sir'tey grinned, "And so will his father."

The group got back to the topics at hand after the little diversion. "So how is the offensive training going?" Norm asked the former marine.

Jake was pleased. "Very well. We have enough Omaticaya who helped out with the White Mountain warriors that it's going a lot easier than the defensive training did. In a couple of months they'll be ready to go back to their home clans and start spreading the teaching to the others."

"And after that?" Mo'at inquired.

The new father nodded in acknowledgement. "Then we really need to get to work on the _nantang-_ball teams, getting our traps and temporary encampments set up, and thinking about how we're going to get the clans to think in terms of coordinated large-scale maneuvers."

"How are we going to do that? We don't have any idea of what the RDA's battle strategy is going to be, do we?" Norm asked in a worried tone.

"No, but we do know they have to hit from the air, at least at first. They don't have anyone here to help them, so one of their first objectives has to be to get people on the ground. They'll want to take Hell's Gate as intact as they can – it'd cost them dearly to rebuild, and they'll desperately need the landing strips. If there's anything we can do to mess them up in the air at the get-go we'd be in a lot better position," the marine mused.

Sir'tey suddenly jerked, and his face looked like he'd been thunderstruck.

"What is it?" Mo'at demanded.

The master hunter turned to the Olo'eyktan with an expression that made him looked like he'd been smacked in the face. "The _ikran-_games!" he exclaimed.

It was such a non-sequitur that it caught everyone flatfooted.

"Excuse me?" a very confused Jake replied.

Sir'tey's expression brightened as if he were a child that had suddenly been presented with every banana fruit in the jungle. "The _ikran-_games!" he repeated. "Teach the _ikran makto_ to play the _nantang-_ball game while they are flying in the air! They will learn to fight as _nantang_ while they are flying!" he concluded in triumph.

The enormity of the idea hit them all at the same time.

"The _pa'li_ riders," Norm couldn't get the words out of his mouth fast enough. "We've got to reach the Horse Clan and have the _pa'li_ riders start doing it. Polo! The Na'vi have got to have some equivalent of polo…." His voice trailed off as he started thinking furiously.

"We must get this information to all the Clans now," Mo'at broke in urgently. "The next gathering is four moons away, we cannot wait for it and lose so much time."

"The Ikran Clan!" Jake responded triumphantly to his mother-in-law. "Perrat made Olo'eyktan because she won the low-flight flying combat! The Ikran Clan can take the concept and work out the details and be able to present it to all the clans in time for the next gathering. They can start teaching the other clans."

"You must send a messenger to her right away. A swift one will be there by nightfall." Sir'tey urged.

"And a messenger to the Horse Clan," Neytiri added with a glance at Norm.

The Tsahik commented, "It will be a blessing for Perrat's warriors to be able to do something that will help them to protect their people."

The scientist broke out of his reverie and looked at the marine with a growing hope in his face. "Jake, if we can do this, if we can get everyone working on the same page, we might do it! We'd have a chance!"

Long experience kicked in and made Jake hold up a hand in caution. "It'll help, it'll definitely help. We're a long way from being out of the woods yet, we can't make assumptions. We still don't know what we're going to be dealing with."

"You are the one who will command all the clans," Mo'at stated firmly. All eyes turned to the matriarch, whose gaze was riveted on Jake. "You are Toruk Makto. You alone will know what must be done when the battle is upon us." She turned to the others, "Even if all the clans coordinate their efforts, it will fail unless Jake is there to direct them. No one else knows the enemy as he does. No one else will see their weaknesses and know where and when to strike."

Her argument went unquestioned. Despite the near-palpable excitement and new hope that filled the room, Jake swallowed hard. His mother-in-law was right; even if all the Na'vi were able to work together successfully, everything still rested on his shoulders. That feeling of being a chess piece being moved around on an invisible chessboard by an unseen hand was back in spades.


	21. Little Bull

Jake was kept very busy over the next few months. His own _ikran makto_ were determined to adapt _nantang-_ball to the air themselves when he informed them of what the Ikran Clan warriors would be working on; they weren't about to wait for anyone else to teach them how to do it.

Perrat's riders were galvanized at the proposal and threw themselves wholeheartedly into the project. That wasn't entirely surprising, given the big fat bullseye the Ikran Clan had painted on their backs. She had managed to convince her warriors that Toruk Makto had entrusted them with the greatest of all the traps, that of drawing off a sizable portion of the enemy's forces. They were proud of being given such a great honor and were determined not to let Jake down.

Awkey's _pa'li_ _makto_ had the same reaction to Jake and Norm's proposal that the Ikran Clan's riders did. When the Olo'eyktan was presented with a style of game and combat that was uniquely adapted to his _pa'li_ riders, he could barely contain his own enthusiasm long enough to listen to the entire explanation. His camp was shortly emptied of off-duty warriors, who ran to go find sticks suitable for polo mallets as fast as they could. By the time the Omatikaya left a couple of days later, the Horse Clan warriors were deeply into debates about mallet construction, styles, and what _pa'li_ were best suited to this mode of combat.

At this point they had one year to go before the Venture Sun's scheduled arrival. Even though this was not supposed to be one of the dangerous ships, the Venture Nova had impressed on all the Na'vi the fact that their peril was not over. Everyone was taking even this 'harmless' ship seriously, to the marine's great relief.

It was during this time that Jake discovered an important facet of the _nantang-_ ball game that he hadn't considered before; because it was a game, it prevented the Na'vi clan homes from becoming war camps. Yes, the games were necessary, and yes, everyone took it seriously, but at the same time the fact that it _was_ a game kept everything in perspective. The truly important thing was life, and living it. Learning how to fight in a coordinated manner – even the battles they knew lay ahead – were simply things to be dealt with so that life could continue for as many Na'vi as possible. They never lost sight of that, which he was both amazed by and grateful for.

So training continued, the games were adapted to _ikran_ and _pa'li,_ Sara Evans taught her novice pilots, the scientists at Hell's Gate kept searching for answers, and day to day life went on.

Jak'itan soon learned to sit up by himself, and Neytiri warned her mate that this meant their son would soon be crawling and need careful watching. She, Jake, or Mo'at brought the baby to the child-watchers' area every day so that the boy had a safe space and many attentive eyes supervising his efforts.

The caretakers were well-practiced in monitoring little ones who were just beginning to learn locomotor skills. The area reserved for the smallest of little-tails held a number of sturdy branches of various thicknesses for the babies to crawl over, on, and around. A tumble off of a six inch log on the ground held much smaller consequences than a fall from a branch high in the Tree, and taught a body-awareness that would be critically needed later. The logs could also be used as strategic barriers to keep the least-experienced of the crawlers safely away from areas they shouldn't be in.

One morning about a month before Jake's fourth clan gathering he stopped in at the child-watchers' area after the first training to spell Neytiri. He saw her wave a greeting from where she was sitting on a log. It was plain that she'd been laughing a moment ago, and he asked "What's so funny?" before kissing her cheek and sitting down next to her.

She pointed out into the crawling-area and grinned, "Your son!"

The Olo'eyktan looked to the spot his mate indicated and saw the baby stubbornly attempting to go through (rather than over or around) a log many times his mass. The child was frustrated that the object wouldn't move aside for him. He reached up and pushed at it with one hand, then with two, and squealed in indignation when his efforts went unnoticed by the obstacle. Jak'itan dropped back down onto all fours and promptly put his head against the log and tried to push his way through it, sending both his parents into gales of laughter.

Jake had to wipe laugh-tears out of his eyes, "He's as stubborn as a little bull…" he was about to say bulldozer but caught himself, knowing that the word had a very different connotation for the Na'vi than it did for humans, "angtsik," he finished.

Neytiri looked at her mate as though he'd uttered something profound and her face lit up. "Yes! That's it!" She jumped up and pulled her son away from his shoving match with the log and whirled the baby high in the air.

Her mate was surprised. "What's it? What did I say?" He got up and walked over to his wife and son.

The tsahik was cooing to her little boy, who was crowing with pleasure at this game his mother was playing. She rubbed noses with the baby, saying gleefully "That is exactly who you are, a stubborn little bull, aren't you? That is your name – An'ts'it!"

Jake was startled at Neytiri's declaration, _But it's not bad, as far as names go,_ he thought to himself. Then he snorted at himself in amusement for such a human-centric reaction. _Hell, I bet 'Jake' sounds a lot weirder to the Na'vi than 'An'ts'it' does. And he *is* as stubborn as a little bull, so why not?_

Neytiri held one of the baby's hand and waved it, "_Kaltxi, _An'ts'it! Let's go see Aunt Janni and tell her your name and she can take your necklace ornament and carve a little angtsik into it! And we will go see your grandmother and tell her, and she will sing the naming-song so that your grandfather and aunt will hear it from within Eywa and be happy for you."

His mate was so pleased that Jake couldn't help but smile, _And after all, I __**did**__ come up with the name. Sort of,_ he thought with satisfaction. He took his son's other hand and play-nibbled on it to make the boy laugh, and put his other arm around Neytiri's waist. "Come on, let's go see Aunt Janni!"


	22. Fourth Gathering

_Nantang-_ball was as popular as the regular ikran games at the next gathering. The airborne version and polo on _pa'li_ were demonstrated to everyone and the Na'vi showed as much enthusiasm for these new sports as for the original game. Jake now had his training modes for his land, mounted, and airborne combat troops. Most importantly, he had it without taking anything away from the Na'vi culture or way of living.

He gave a sigh of relief as he stood next to Mo'at while they were watching a polo demonstration by the Horse Clan. She interpreted the sound correctly, "You have done well to get the People to start working together. I can already See the difference this will make when the great battles come."

The Olo'eyktan nodded. "The hunters are already becoming more aware of each others' positions on the ground when they're hunting. It'll make it easier for us to monitor the area surrounding the dreamwalkers' home when the Sky People come."

The Tsahik agreed, "And you will have _ikran makto_ in the sky above, watching for signs from the hunters on the ground. If anything suspicious is seen…."

Jake filled in, "The _ikran makto_ will signal the others for _pa'li_ riders or a flying combat group. We'll know within a couple of minutes at the most if anything is going on."

His mother-in-law turned to him, "You will not use the talking-necklaces then?"

The marine shook his head. "I'd like to avoid it if at all possible. The Sky People can listen in on them too easily, and they have people who know how to speak Na'vi. I'll give them to the group leaders just in case, but they'll have instructions to use them only if there's no other choice."

"Or if something happens that you must know of immediately," Mo'at suggested.

He agreed; that was a reasonable (and unfortunately likely) circumstance for use of the devices. "I'll see if any of the dreamwalkers can do something to make them harder for the Sky People to listen to. Anything they can do would be a big help."

Neytiri's mother nodded, "Sometimes the snapping of a single branch is all that separates a successful hunt from an unsuccessful one."

Jake looked out at the Na'vi enthusiastically watching the new sporting events. "Give the games a year, year and a half to spread so that everyone can learn them and get used to them. Then I'll bring in all the team leaders and show them how to apply the game playing skills to combat situations."

"And how each little pack must act as part of the greater whole," Mo'at summarized. She was silent for a few moments and then asked the big question. "Will it be enough?"

The troubled look on his face was answer enough. "So. It will help, as will the things your dreamwalker friends are doing will help, but things are still very much in Eywa's hands."

The usual business of the semiannual clan gathering went on around them, even if it took a little longer since so many were watching the games.

Kim Yoshi had had some luck when he'd asked the Chemistry guys about making salt for trade to the Na'vi. One of the scientists working on the project of extracting a viable growing medium from Pandoran minerals overhead Kim's concerns about the chemically-pure salt and helpfully provided him with the detritus from his own experiments. Making a rough salt that was nearly identical to what the Sea Clan produced was a snap after that.

He'd brought a couple of carry-nets of fruits and vegetables to trade with the Ikran Clan for some fish, and his salt to trade with other clans. _No sense in carrying coals to Newcastle,_ he thought as he approached the fisherfolks' display. "_Kaltxi ma'tsmukan, ma'tsmuke!_" he hailed with a wave as he approached.

"_Kaltxi,_" one of the Na'vi responded politely, eyeing the filled carry-nets. "You would like to make a trade?"

The scientist nodded, "The _uniltirantokx_ clan is small, but we still need to eat. We would welcome some of your good fish. I brought these from our home to trade with you." He slung the heavy nets carefully onto the ground before him, grateful to get the weight off his back and shoulders.

The man relaxed at the familiar scenario. "Friends of Toruk Makto are friends of the Na'vi, and we will gladly trade with you." He inspected the offering and commented in an approving tone, "You have fine fruits to trade, I see. Eywa has blessed our clan waters with an astonishing number of green-tails lately, would you like to see them?"

Kim agreed, and the two haggled companionably for a while before settling on a mutually agreeable exchange. The zoologist was soon loaded up again with one bag of whole dried fish and a smaller one of salt-cured fillets. He suppressed a smile as he headed back to the _pa'li_ that would carry his prizes back to Hell's Gate; the fisherman hadn't been able to resist the temptation of the juicy purple fruits and had liberated one from the net to eat on the spot.

He nodded in friendly fashion at the Na'vi he passed as he made his way across the gathering-grounds. _Even if none of this pans out for human food, we still need to keep the Avatars fed. Varying their diet will help keep them healthy. Maybe if we're lucky some of us will be able to move into our Avatars permanently, like Jake has._ He snorted to himself after a moment's thought. _Or maybe that wouldn't be so lucky after all. _He looked with longing at the lush greenery all around him and breathed the clean air with great appreciation. The happy and relaxed Na'vi around him were so, well, _normal_. So normal and healthy that it was damn near sacred.

Kim's thoughts took a turn for the bitter. _And all of this will be destroyed without a thought if the RDA gets their way. All the people, all the animals, everything gone, just like Earth. Doesn't anyone ever __**learn**__? Don't they understand? Don't they See what they're doing? Does the RDA even __**care**_ _about Earth anymore?_ Resolve interrupted the potential pity party going on in his head. _Well dammit, __**we**__ do, and we're damn well going to fix it if we can. To hell with the RDA! And if the Earth is too far gone, if it can't be fixed, _a flying ikran with a whooping youngster on its back flew in front of him and made him smile. _Then we'll do whatever it takes to make sure the RDA never does to Pandora what they've done to our home world._


	23. Gamble

Brown Hair was as nervous as he'd ever been during his employment with the RDA, and that covered his entire adult life. Heir-apparent to the CEO, he was used to playing for the highest stakes, but this was an order of magnitude beyond any risk he had ever entertained.

_Do I absolutely need to do this?_ He'd agonized over the question for weeks. _Can't I just ignore it, leave it well enough alone?_

He knew deep down that he couldn't. _This might very well be a test. He may have thrown it out deliberately to see what I would do. It'd be like him to do that; god knows he's done it plenty of times before._

If it wasn't a test…. The very idea gave him the shivers. _All this time he's led me to believe that nothing is more important than the Project. The security around it is unbelievable, the number of people who know about it absolutely minimal, each one knowing exactly what they need to and no more. The slightest slip, and a person just 'disappears.' But now?_

Now he had a dilemma worthy of Damocles on his hands. _If he lets this order stand it can mean only one thing, that there is something even more important, more secret, than the Project going on._ The very thought of such a thing, given what he knew about the RDA's magnum opus (and that wasn't anywhere near everything) was guaranteed to give even him nightmares. _Have I seen a glimpse of something that could be even more important than the Project?_

The thought of actually having to stand in front of the CEO and question this order was terrifying enough to make him want to run screaming into the night. He'd only come to a decision after weeks of analysis and soul-searching. _I have to,_ Brown Hair repeated to himself unhappily. _If this is a test – and it may well be – I'll fail it if I don't._ The consequences of failure at this level didn't bear thinking about. On the other hand, the idea that this wasn't a test was even worse. _If it isn't a test – has he lost his edge? Are things so dire as to drive HIM into an error of this magnitude? And if so – how do I respond?_

He felt like a man walking a tightrope above an abyss that was filled with demons waiting for him to make a single misstep. _He knows that I've made preparations in the event I need to take over, forcibly if necessary. He's already tested those._

In fact, the older man had been pleased, even amused, to find how prepared his protégé was. Brown Hair shook his head at the memory. _Not only was he not angry, he complimented me on the steps I'd taken – and then gave me advice on how to improve on them!_

His bafflement hadn't cleared until the CEO explained that unpreparedness in this position was a guarantee of failure. Far from being the death sentence he'd assumed, his foresight had helped catapult him over the heads of the other RDA directors to his current position of heir-apparent.

Now, the heir-apparent was in the position of having to challenge the king – without losing his lofty status. The very idea made his stomach feel sick. _Damned if I do, damned if I don't,_ he thought unhappily. There was no point in drawing this out now that he'd made his decision. Time was not on his – or the RDA's – side.

He arrived at the CEO's office at the appointed time for his regular meeting. The private secretary admitted him through the door, and he spent the obligatory five seconds staring at the barrel of the faithful Robert's sidearm before being allowed to enter the office.

He went through the usual agenda of items requiring his boss' personal attention while attempting to gauge what kind of mood the man was in. Was he acting hassled? Amused? Distracted? Was there a glitter of anticipation in those veiled eyes? He mentally shook his head in an attempt to restore his focus.

They finished discussing the routine business of the day, and the CEO asked as he usually did, "Is there anything else?"

Brown Hair steeled himself, "One thing, sir."

His boss waved an open hand, indicating that he should continue.

"I'm – puzzled, sir," he began cautiously.

"Oh? By what?" the CEO inquired.

"The order to divert the Venture Sun." He hurried to explain before his statement could be construed (at least directly) as a challenge of that order. "It was my understanding that capturing Sully and his family was of the utmost importance to the Project, and that everything else was secondary to that objective."

The RDA chief's face assumed all the animation of a block of granite. That was definitely not a good sign. Brown Hair hastily continued. "The Venture Comet's black ops unit is being reassigned to capture the Sullys when they arrive three and a half years from now, but the Sun is going to arrive at Pandora in six months – was supposed to arrive in six months, I should say. Hell's Gate certainly has the resources to detect the redirection of the ship. Won't that tip Sully off that something's up? Won't that forewarn him? Do we want to put him on his guard, three years before the Venture Comet can even get there?"

He clapped his mouth shut on all the other questions that had tormented him for the past few weeks, knowing that he had already said more than enough, and quite possibly far too much. Treason was not a characteristic the CEO welcomed in his subordinates, as he knew only too well. The corpse of the blond haired board member that was now rotting away under the radioactive remains of a failed nuclear power station that he had helped to dispose of was mute testament to that fact. _I've committed myself,_ he thought in near-terror. _Now we see – is the Project the real priority here, or is there something else going on? And will I live long enough to find out?_

The CEO rose from his chair without a word (Brown Hair was hard put not to jump out of his own) and unhurriedly strode over to an unmarked section of wall. He touched a switch and a panel smoothly retracted to reveal a window overlooking the city. His personal domain. He stood there silently for several long minutes while his protégé was sweating bullets.

After what seemed like an eternity a whispered order broke the sepulchral silence, "Cancel the directive to divert the Sun."

It took everything Brown Hair had in him to rise from the chair at only a casual speed, to make the customary half-bow and reply obediently, "As you command, Sir," and leave the room at a sedate walk while his senior continued his unmoving vigil at the window. He'd never been so glad to close the door to that office behind him in his life.

The efficient secretary greeted him casually, "Productive meeting I hope, sir? Can I get you anything?"

He politely declined as usual and left as quickly as proper decorum allowed. _The only thing I need now, before I relay those orders, is a change of clothes…._


	24. Hiding

Jake was grateful to have the need for intensive training ease off over the next couple of months. The techniques for martial arts and the games were out there, and now all that was needed for time for it to spread and the Na'vi to become proficient.

The Venture Sun had been enroute long before Jake had first set foot on Pandora, so it had no more than the usual compliment of personnel, equipment, and supplies on board. There was no doubt that it had received amended orders since its launch, however. Those orders (and how to deal with them) were the subject of much discussion among Toruk Makto's personal war council.

Patience did not come easily to the marine. Oh he'd learned to bow to the necessity of it, but that didn't mean he _liked_ having to be patient. Add to that the frustrating fact that they didn't have any solid intel regarding the incoming ISV, and you wound up with one very antsy Olo'eyctan. There was still a considerable amount of work to occupy his time, but as the weeks wore on the toll on his nerves grew.

Neytiri had her own ways of dealing with her mate. One thing that was absolutely guaranteed to lift Jake's spirits whenever he showed signs of going into a funk was time with his son. An'ts'it was happily crawling everywhere he could possibly go, and she didn't need to feign the necessity to take breaks from birddogging her energetic son around New Hometree. The marine was eager to spend all the time he could with his little boy, so it was fairly easy for Neytiri to simply 'appear' with the baby in tow and hand him over to his father whenever said dad started looking fidgety. At other times when the baby was asleep or with his grandmother, well, no one said a thing if the Olo'eyktan and Tsahik-to-be disappeared for a couple of hours.

One of the sources of Jake's unease was something that neither time with his son or his mate could allay. Perrat had come to New Hometree on one of her regular visits about three months before the Sun was due to arrive. Neytiri was playing a tickling-game to keep the baby occupied while the adults spoke. She didn't catch the arched look that the Eastern Sea clan leader had given her mate, nor the pained look on his face that he'd quickly masked.

There wasn't much time left before the new ISV came, and as Perrat had implied, he didn't have the luxury of postponing a certain conversation any longer. Jake didn't believe that this ship represented a direct danger to his mate or child – but of such assumptions were tragedies made. That night, after the meeting, he steeled himself to broach a very touchy subject.

He waited until An'ts'it had been rocked to sleep in the little hammock that had been strung up in their sleeping space. His mate sighed happily (and quietly) as she let the net bed swing slowly to a stop and came over to join him. Neytiri settled herself next to him and happily reached out to hold him before noticing the expression on his face. "Jake, is something wrong? You look troubled."

He ran his hand up and down her arm and sighed. "Yeah. Neytiri, I need to talk to you about something."

Her face showed concern, "What is it?"

Jake looked down reflexively for a moment. "You know the _tawtute_ will be looking for me when they come. Maybe not this ship," he amended, "but you know I'm one of their targets."

Neytiri nodded but still had the frown on her face; they'd gone over this uncounted times before. "And?"

The marine steeled himself, "You know they'll be looking for you too. They know what you look like, because of Grace's school. They know you're my mate and Eytukan's daughter. They know that if they can catch you they can use you against me."

Revulsion colored the frown on Neytiri's face as the Na'vi's universal reaction to such blackmail coursed through his mate.

Jake took a deep breath and continued, "They also know about An'ts'it, from the recordings that got stolen from the dreamwalkers' home."

"But An'ts'it will not be at the Sea Clan when they come." She made the statement sound almost like a question.

He hurried to reassure her, "No, he won't – but I still believe that for safety's sake we should hide him with another Clan when there's a _tawtute_ ship nearby – and that neither you nor I should be anywhere near him then either."

Shock colored the young mother's face as she realized what her mate was saying. "But Jake," spilled out of her mouth almost instantly.

The marine interrupted her objections, "Neytiri, the _tawtute_ know what I look like, they know what you look like. If they see a baby with either of us that's anywhere near the right age they won't have any trouble putting two and two together. We've got to hide An'ts'it with another clan, and then stay completely away from him until the ship is gone."

He could see that she understood and even accepted the logic of his statements, and also saw the strength of her motherly instincts screaming protest at the thought of separation from her child in such a situation. He watched the intense internal war play over her face for many long moments as she tried to come up with a more palatable alternative. He sighed to himself in relief when her ears drooped in surrender.

"I do not like this, Jake. I do not like it at all. It feels very bad," her voice trembled slightly and her large luminous eyes bored into his face.

He pulled her into his embrace and hugged her tight. "I don't like it either. But it's the best way to make sure he stays safe. As soon as the ship is gone we'll bring him home, I promise."

"You wish to practice this with the ship that is coming?" she asked.

Jake nodded, "We can hide him with the Horse Clan while the Venture Sun is here. They're near enough that we can reach them quickly if we have to. One Na'vi child in a clan full of children won't draw their attention at all, and if anything unexpected happens they can easily escape on _pa'li_."

"There are many Omatikaya who have mates that came from the Horse Clan, or who have found mates in the Horse Clan. I am sure they would be willing to keep An'ts'it with their own children until the ship is gone," Neytiri offered in a trembling voice. The idea did make her feel a teensy bit better. Not much, but a bit. She hugged her mate tightly, trying to lose the sense of unease that shadowed her.

Jake was entirely sympathetic and embraced her in return. "He'll be safe, don't worry." He rubbed her back, doing his best to convince himself as well as his mate. "It'll all work out, you'll see."


	25. Blessing

Kim Yoshi handed a slice of the greentail fish he'd traded the Sea Clan for to the spectrophotometer tech, and then crossed the room to get himself a cup of coffee. He didn't expect any good news regarding the fish; he could see a near-crystalline shine in the skin that screamed of the heavy metals and minerals that had frustrated the food investigation team so thoroughly.

The freshly brewed beverage was hot and steaming, so strong it was about ready to jump out of the cup and slap him across the face. Just the way he liked it. He had to sip it carefully to avoid scalding his mouth.

The tech started preparing the sample and commented, "You want to get the next one ready while I'm doing this? Gonna take a while."

"Sure, why not?" Kim replied. Being careful not to spill his steaming cup, he turned to survey the rest of the results of his recent foray. Various fruits, roots, and flesh were colorfully arrayed on the main work table. The whitish flesh of the cured fish caught his eye as the salt grains sparkled in the incandescent lighting. He sighed. _Might as well get the salt off of it just to make sure we get a decent reading, even though it's probably as loaded as everything else._ He filled a basin with distilled water and plopped the filet into it, smiling nostalgically as he remembered his fellow Omatikaya cook-helper.

He turned to the rest of the items on the table and painstakingly prepped multiple samples of each one for the analyzer. It took hours to do the job correctly. _Plenty of cases where seeds of Earth flora were edible and the skins poisonous, or vice versa,_ he thought as he forced himself to follow the protocol exactly. _And it could be that being combined with something else would make one of these things harmless. Get the proper data into the machine and the computer can crunch out all the possible permutations later._

It was late afternoon by the time he'd worked his way through all the Pandoran food on the table, and all the coffee in the coffee pot. He gathered up what was still usable – a mess of chopped up parts – and put it all in a big bucket to be sent to the Avatar kitchen. He smiled as he inspected the contents of the bucket. _Na'vi jambalaya,_ he quipped to himself. _Or as my sister back home would say, empty everything in the fridge out into a pot._ The memory of that interaction was comforting.

He set the bucket on the counter and spoke to the tech, "Anything pan out?"

"Nah, nothing. You about done?" was the reply.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna take this over to the kitchen. No sense wasting it when the Avatars need to be fed too."

The tech pointed to the water-filled basin, "What about that?"

Kim looked in the indicated direction and swore. "Crap, I forgot all about that. Hang on a minute."

He retrieved the now waterlogged filet from the basin and rinsed it off with more distilled water for good measure. He conscientiously excised a sample and brought it over to the tech, who was waiting for it.

The zoologist went back to the fish and scooped it up to add it to the jambalaya. He washed out the basin he'd used and was about to grab the bucket and leave when he heard a choking noise from the tech. He whirled just in time to hear the man exclaim, "Jesus, Yoshi!"

He almost pulled a hamstring trying to leap across the room. "What? What is it?"

The tech pointed at the display screen. "There! Look at that!"

Instead of the usual kaleidoscope of colors indicating the presence of the normal range of Pandoran minerals, only two were showing on the screen and they were two colors that Kim knew well. He started shaking with excitement and grabbed his colleague's shoulder. "Stay here. Don't move. Don't say anything to anyone! I'll be right back."

He ran a few doors down the hall to the chemistry lab and had to catch himself on the door frame. Several people were working, so he raised his voice and nearly yelled, "Anyone got some ascorbic acid I can use?"

One guy in the back held up a brown glass jar. "Here you go. Good old vitamin C, anti-inflammatory, antiscorbutic, and the best heavy metal chelator that won't kill a living host that you'll find. Made naturally by all animals except humans, bats, and guinea pigs. Man I hate those creepy critters."

Kim grabbed the jar out of the eloquent scientist's hand and ran back to the spectrophotometry lab at top speed. The tech was waiting for him anxiously. The zoologist retrieved the filet out of the scrap bucket, rinsed it again, then plopped it back in the cleaned basin and poured more distilled water on it. He twisted the top off of the glass jar and shook a generous measure of the white powder into the basin.

The tech handed him a spatula that Kim used to gently agitate the water and lift the filet so that the solution could reach every surface. "How long do you think it'll take?" he asked in a nervous tone.

Yoshi looked up at the wall clock. "Let's give it fifteen minutes. If it's going to work at all, we should have a good indication by then. I don't wanna blow this."

The time seemed to crawl by. Kim made a point of waiting sixteen minutes, just to prevent himself from jumping the gun. His hand shook noticeably as he lifted the fish out of the ascorbic acid solution and held it over the basin so that the other man could rinse it well with more water. They set it down on the table, and the zoologist was excruciatingly careful about taking a proper sample.

The tech took it with near-reverence and prepared it for the huge machine. Both men were near to holding their breath as it swallowed their offering. There was a pause of a few seconds as the fish was bathed in multiple spectra of light while the machine recorded the results. The screen lit up with a solid white display, and impartially reported a series of numbers. Kim and the tech took a single look and jumped up screaming, hugging each other and slapping each others' backs in triumph.

It took a couple minutes before they could calm down, then Kim ordered "Soak some more samples and repeat the scans, we'll need detailed information on how much ascorbic acid is needed and how long the fish needs to be immersed to make absolutely sure all of the heavy metals are cleared. I've got to go tell Norm and Max about this immediately!"

The tech agreed instantly and turned back to work, reinvigorated. Kim almost flew out the door, imagining with glee the look that was going to appear on the face of the Avatar Project's leader. _Wait until Norm hears this! This is the biggest break we've had! Thank Eywa, we've got food!_


	26. Salvation

"Somehow this greentail fish puts most of the things that hurt my people into its' skin and bones," Norm could barely control his excitement as he explained what Kim had discovered to Perrat. He'd insisted that Jake fly him to the Ikran Clan immediately; Norm had been so focused on his news that he'd barely been aware of the trip while flying pillion behind his friend.

Mirran, the Ikran Clan's Tsahik, was curious, "And you say that our salt made the fish safer for your people to eat?"

The xenoanthropologist nodded emphatically, "It reacts with the things that make my people sick and takes it away. The only materials left in the fish are things that we can remove easily. We'll be able to grow our own vegetables, but once we run out of what we have stored, this fish will be the only meat safe for us to eat. We have to find something we can trade to you for it. I know you don't need salt but we have fruits and vegetables in our gardens, we can work for you, catch fish, pick berries, make nets, we'll provide whatever labor you need." He was almost stuttering in his desperation to help his colleagues, his clan.

Perrat held up one hand to silence him. "Dreamwalker-brother," she said gently but firmly, "your people will be fed."

Surprise wrote itself large all over his face.

Mirran explained softly, "This is Eywa's way, Norm'an. The Na'vi survive because we help each other to survive. We must. It is the way. You and your people belong here now. You are one with the Clans. The Clans will help you until you are able to stand on your own. Do not speak of trade now. That is for later. Now we must focus on the battles ahead. When those are over, then there will be time for other considerations. Until then, the Sea Clan will provide for your tribe."

The scientist was speechless, overwhelmed. Tears poured uncontrollably from his eyes in response to the simple, unhesitating generosity. He was stunned. _Who on Earth would do anything like this? To save an entire colony and ask for no price, no payback? No mortgaging your soul to the Devil in return for a pittance? 'We help each other because we must' – is it that easy? Is that their secret?_

Apparently it was. The Olo'eyktan reached out and touched the rosette of bullet scars on Norm's chest. "You have fought with us before and you will do so again, brother. The knowledge you have will help ensure the _tawtute_ never do to our home what they have done to their own, and when the last battle has been won and they are gone forever, you will live here with us in Eywa's hands."

Norm forced himself to speak though he nearly choked with emotion, "Thank you. Thank you so much. I can't tell you how much this means to us."

Perrat withdrew her hand and nodded in satisfaction. "Your thanks are welcome. Now, let us go see the new drying-caves. It is clear now why Eywa wished us to create them, and why She has sent so many fish to our waters. We must speak to the drying-master and find out how much fish is ready for your people. It may need to cure longer than it would for the Na'vi, if the curing is what makes it safe for you. We will select some of what has been dried the longest and send it back with you so that you can begin working with it. You will need to send messages to the drying-master when you need more, or if the fish needs to be cured longer. You should send some of your people to him so that he can teach them how to do this for themselves." Perrat rose as she spoke and gestured that Norm follow, which he did gratefully.

Jake exhaled hugely as they left, releasing much of the tension that he'd had bottled up inside. He didn't move to accompany the pair; this was a matter between the two Olo'eyktans, and he didn't need to stick his nose into it.

Neytiri hugged her mate joyously, near to tears herself. She'd insisted on coming with them when she'd heard Norman's news. Her hug was fervently returned. "This is truly a blessing from Eywa," she said happily. "Now that She has taken the dreamwalker-clan into Her hands, they will certainly be safe and well cared for. This is surely cause for a great celebration."

"I'm sure that when Norm gets back to Hell's Gate they'll throw the biggest party they've ever seen," Jake said with relief as he took his woman into his arms.

His son's mother smiled impishly, "You cannot hide your thoughts from me, I know that you have been worried for your friends. This is almost as welcome to you as it is to them."

It was true; Jake felt like a huge weight had fallen off of him. "They deserve a break," he admitted. "They gave up everything to help us when they could have saved their own necks and let the _tawtute_ destroy us all. I'm glad to see something go right for them."

"And more will come," the tsahik stated firmly. "Eywa always helps those who help Her."

He smiled as he cradled his mate in his arms, "Is that so?" he asked teasingly.

"Yes it is, you silly _skawng,"_ she teased right back and fondly rubbed her nose against his.

Jake pulled her in close, "Norm and Perrat will be busy for a few hours talking about fish. Since An'ts'it is with your mother, how about we find something to keep us busy for a while?"

Neytiri smiled as certain body-spots on her mate started glowing more strongly. The two cute spots just above his chin seemed to be inviting her to nibble on them. "I have a better idea," she responded slyly. "Norm'an is an Olo'eyktan, and it is a simple courtesy for Perrat to offer to have one of her _ikran makto_ fly him back to New Hometree when their talk is finished. He really should get an _ikran_ of his own some time, you know. We have not visited our place where the fan-lizards nest since before An'ts'it was born. Why don't we leave Norm'an and Perrat to their meeting and make a small detour on our way home?" She grinned when his spots' glow strengthened considerably.

"Why don't you go ask Mirran to have someone fly Norm home while I go get our _ikran?_" Jake responded quickly.

Neytiri chuckled in a low tone. She knew exactly why he was volunteering to get their mounts. She kissed his nose. "Go then, and I will meet you." He kissed her back and was off like a shot. The Omatikaya's tsahik-to-be went to make the request of her counterpart. _This is truly worth celebrating,_ she thought to herself happily. _Now that the dreamwalkers will have food of their own they will be free of the tawtute ships. Now the tawtute will have no hold over our friends, and the Great Mother will reward them well for helping us._


	27. Venture Sun

The next clan gathering occurred just a couple of weeks before the Venture Sun was due to arrive, and the tension among the Olo'eyktan and Tsahiks attending the war council was significant.

"The best of our warriors are ready, Toruk Makto," Awkey reported.

"You are certain that this ship is coming?" Ikariyu asked peremptorily.

Norm nodded definitively, "Our _tawtute_ machines have Seen it in the sky. It will be here in fourteen days."

A near-universal shudder went through the Na'vi. As little as any of them liked having to depend on human equipment, it couldn't be denied that the advance notice was invaluable.

Perrat picked up the conversation. "Has anything changed, now that we can See the ship, or will we be in the same positions we discussed earlier?"

Jake was quick to reassure the group, "It's doing exactly what we expected it to do so far, so we'll leave things the way they are for now. It's what they'll do once they get here that I'm worried about."

He was seconded by Norm, "They don't have any number of warriors or machines with them, but they're sure to have received messages from their own Olo'eyktan by now. We don't know what those orders are, so we have to be ready for anything."

The Omatikaya's senior hunter nodded knowingly, "A fleeing _yerik_ can decide to turn and charge its attacker without any warning. A wise hunter never assumes that anything he pursues is helpless, regardless of how it appears."

"Exactly," Jake responded. "They may have no warriors or weapons, but we can't afford to let our guard down." To his relief, the others understood Sir'tey's explanation and were reassured.

"So," Perrat summarized, "we will gather at the Omatikaya Hometree or the Horse Clan's camp in eleven days and then take our places around the dreamwalkers' home until the ships leave."

A general discussion broke out at that point, with various Olo'eyktan examining the layout of rocks and seed pods that the marine had arranged to illustrate the positions of each clan's warriors and some making suggestions.

Jake caught Awkey's attention while the others were talking and gestured an indication that he wanted to speak to the man privately. They stepped aside, and he asked his counterpart's permission to hide An'ts'it with the Horse Clan, explaining the reason for the request.

Awkey was as repulsed as any Na'vi by the thought of anyone harming a child and quickly agreed. "Firalla came to the Horse Clan from Omatikaya, she is one of the most devoted child-tenders we have, and she bore a daughter about the same time your Neytiri had An'ts'it," the leader commented. "Firalla and Neytiri knew each other growing up; she has always spoken highly of your mate. I'm sure she will gladly help you by caring for your son until the ship has gone."

Neytiri was relieved when Jake informed her of Awkey's offer, and flew her son to the Horse Clan herself two days before the war parties arrived. An'ts'it had no problem when his mother placed him down in the middle of a group of other children his own age. He was as curious to meet all these new friends as they were to meet him, and was soon totally absorbed with his new playmates.

The Omatikaya tsahik had a much harder time with the separation, and only managed to pull herself away from her son after a great deal of time had passed. Neytiri had no doubt that her son would be well cared for, it was just the reason behind it that bothered her so. She finally made herself leave once An'ts'it was napping. It was a tough ride home.

Everyone was in place and ready when the ISV arrived. The ship had hailed them almost the moment local communications were possible. "Hell's Gate, this is the Venture Sun, do you copy?"

Max opened a channel and replied, "This is Hell's Gate, we're reading you five by five Venture Sun. Welcome to Pandora."

Norm put a nervous hand on the back of his friend's chair. The anthropologist was wearing a throat mike with an open connection so that Jake and the others outside could hear what was going on.

The ship's captain replied before either of the scientists could say anything. "I've been informed by McKinney transmission that you folks have a plague situation going on down there, is that right?"

The fuzzy haired neuroscientist quickly confirmed, "That's correct, Venture Sun."

"In that case, I have to tell you that I've been ordered to have no contact with you people," the captain said with a tone of pity audible in his voice. "I've been commanded to drop the supplies I'm carrying at the farthest end of your landing strip and to take absolutely nothing physical back with me. You're to stay inside the base, every one of you, until all the supplies are dropped and we're out of here, is that understood? No contact whatsoever. I'm sorry folks, but I'm afraid you're on your own," the captain responded.

The men were stunned. _It can't be!_ Norm thought to himself. _Is it really going to be that easy? Was Max' data that convincing? Surely they've seen through it by now!_

Apparently not. Max activated the communications link before the silence could grow into something suspiciously long. Norm had to give him credit; the man could act. Dejection colored Max' every word, "Understood, Venture Sun. We'll have all our people inside before the first shuttle load comes down." He thought quickly and added, "We've kind of pissed the locals off a bit, trying to resolve our problem. Your pilot will probably see a bunch of em camped outside the fence when he comes down. There's no danger, they can't get in and they're not armed to speak of. He can just ignore them."

"Understood, Hell's Gate, I'll give him a heads-up." The captain's orders discharged, he allowed regret to show. "I'm sorry as hell for you guys, but, you know, orders are orders. I hope you manage to beat this thing." _Before you all die of it,_ were the unspoken but clearly heard words.

"Thanks, Venture Sun. Appreciate it. Hell's Gate out," Max's reply contained all the gloom of a man convinced that he was doomed to die. He clicked the mike off.

Norm clapped him on the back, "Jesus Max, you had _me_ going for a minute there! Good job!"

The neurologist was uneasy. "Norm, it can't be that easy, can it? I feel like I'm waiting for a shoe to drop, here."

The head of the Avatar Project shook his head ruefully, "I know what you mean, I feel it too. All we can do now is wait until those supplies are on the tarmac."

"What about the Na'vi outside?" was the anxious response.

"Jake'll have everyone in appropriate positions by the time the shuttle comes down," the anthropologist tried to reassure his friend. "Cross your fingers, and let's hope for the best, huh?"

Max turned nervously back to monitoring his screens and muttered to himself, "Yeah, here's hoping."

Lights lit up on the console indicating that data connections to the Sun were being made. Norm wandered off to go check on the others while Max stayed glued to his station. Much of his attention was on a subsidiary screen that was displaying a single line: MSG QUEUED FOR DELIVERY. DESTINATION: RDA NEUROLOGICAL INSTITUTE. He waited nervously for over an hour while multiple torrents eagerly sucked up the data that the Venture Sun's computer systems were delivering. Inbound data took priority over outbound, so he had to wait a long time. When the highest priority data was finished being delivered the main console flashed a message at him: DATA UPLOAD INITIATED.

He was on pins and needles. Again, priority data went first. Personal messages – even Avatar Project related ones such as the one he had created - had to wait until more critical information had been transmitted. His butt was beginning to go numb in the chair when his subsidiary screen started blinking. The message changed: MSG UPLOAD IN PROGRESS. Max was as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. All messages were scanned as a matter of course, and it went without saying that anything from the renegade Avatar scientists was going to be examined six ways from Sunday. If anything out of order was detected by the Sun's messaging system, months worth of work was about to go down the tubes. He was relying on old friends, and old memories, to a degree that almost made him question his sanity.

After what seemed like an eternity, the notification on the small screen changed. Max exhaled almost explosively when he saw it: MSG UPLOADED SUCCESSFULLY. _Now, if only that gets where it's going – and if an old buddy of mine recognizes it for what it is!_ he prayed.

He would have been a lot less sanguine had he known the full extent of what else the messaging system was handling.

In the private quarters of one of the Avatar Project scientists, a terminal winked on as it was programmed to do when activity occurred. There was no one in the room to see it at the moment, but it would be noticed as soon as the occupant returned. A single line blinked on the display: INCOMING MSG RECEIVED.

The name on the wall next to the door of the empty quarters read Dr. David Robinson.


	28. Tension

The captain of the Venture Sun clicked off his mike with pity, anger, and no little amount of disgust. "Damned bureaucrats. Divert the ship and abandon the colony, then change your mind even though it's not going to do them a damn bit of good. They were just lucky we hadn't started making the course correction before the order got countermanded. Didn't they realize that jerking this ship around like that could snap it like a matchstick?"

The ship's cryogenic technician nodded sympathetically. He knew the captain was upset more at the thought of leaving the colony in its current state than he was upset at the course changes. The cryo tech was the RDA CEO's operative on this ship, and he was just as perplexed at the situation as the captain was. "Well, at least someone got their heads on straight in the end," he consoled the captain.

The captain grumbled, "It's hypocritical to leave them our cargo and get their hopes up. Worse, it seems like we're accessories to torture for keeping them alive. Seems like it'd be more merciful to just let them go and not make them hang on longer."

The tech sympathized, "Never know Sir, maybe they'll beat it."

The captain grumbled, "Not too damned likely if you ask me."

The tech tried to interject a cheerful note, "Well, it hasn't killed them yet, maybe it won't."

The captain took his frustration out in his orders, "I don't want a single man going down there without a full hazmat suit on."

The tech was a bit surprised "You think that's advisable, sir? "

It was a mistake to give the captain a target for his anger. He whirled on the crewman and pointed an accusing finger, "We're going back to Earth with an empty cargo hold! You think the bean counters are going to be concerned about a few extra hazmat suits gone missing? Not one man gets on that shuttle without a suit on and that's a direct order!"

The tech backed off immediately and left to go carry out his orders. He brooded all the way to the cryo banks. _The directive I got confirms everything the captain said, we're to drop supplies and take back no unobtanium – but that's insane! The plague story's a farce, it has to be. No Earth germs can survive down there to begin with, and if they did, and it __**was**__ as deadly as they say, why is anyone left after a year and a half? _The situation was frustrating, to say the least. Well, he'd sure keep his eyes and ears open. _That's what I get paid for, after all._

"I don't like it, Jake," Norm confided to his friend at a hastily-called meeting outside the Hell's Gate perimeter that evening, "It stinks to high heaven."

"No argument here," Toruk Makto agreed. "Something's going on for sure."

"You sense something wrong?" Perrat inquired sharply.

The marine nodded, "The _tawtute_ home will die without the rock they take from Pandora. They have to be in a panic already because we made the last ship go home empty, yet this ship is acting as if having no rock to take home is unimportant. Why?"

Norm affirmed, "It should be the most important thing in the world to them, as important as air to breathe or food to eat. That's what they were sent here six years ago to get, after all. Why are they willing, even eager, to leave without it now? I wouldn't be surprised if the people who sent them would kill them for coming back without it, and they have to know that."

The Na'vi were sickened at this further depiction of the depths of the _tawtute_ insanity.

Sir'tey thought out loud, "Perhaps because they have no great number of warriors with them?" He shook his head and answered his own question. "They will know that the _uniltirantokx_ clan has even fewer warriors. An animal facing its own death does not surrender peacefully, it fights even more violently, especially if the adversary is not significantly larger than it is. Norm'an is correct, this response from the _tawtute_ makes no sense."

Jake's mind was working furiously. "The only way this makes any sense at all is if it's a part of a bigger plan." He looked up at the group and quoted, "'Give them what they expect to see.'"

Norm countered, "The RDA wants unobtanium. They want Hell's Gate back if they can get it, as intact as possible. They know that there aren't any miners left here, no stock besides what we had on hand when the Venture Star left. They know we sided with the Na'vi."

Mo'at stated, "This ship knows it would lose against us in a fight. We would perhaps gain more ships like the one you stole the last time, as well as whatever else they possess, when they lose."

That was a huge idea. The xenoanthropologist looked at the marine with momentary excitement, "Should we try to take the ISV somehow? We can't fly it, but we could strip it to the walls, take it out of commission."

It was a tempting thought, but after a minute Jake reluctantly shook his head. "The Na'vi can't function in the ISV's atmosphere." He mentally kicked himself for not having considered the need for that function earlier. "None of your people are fighters, and they **do** have the standard rotation of people for Sec Ops on board. In fact, we'd best be prepared – one ploy behind this could be that those guys will be hiding in the supplies they bring down."

"A trap," Perrat agreed. "We must watch them carefully when they leave these supplies, and the _uniltirantox_ clan must check them afterwards before bringing them into their clan-home."

"Now _that_ makes a lot more sense," Norm said in relief. "That would explain everything."

"So we counter it," the Olo'eyktan of the Ikran Clan stated. "Let them come and leave these supplies. When the small ship leaves we will watch your people check everything. If there are any warriors hiding inside, we will kill them."

Jake interjected a note of caution to the scientist, "Better have your guys suit up. If there are people hiding in the crates, they'll be a lot safer with some armor plate around them. The avatars are too vulnerable."

"Can't replace them, for sure," Norm agreed. "Let's work out where the best places to station warriors will be," he suggested. Most of the assembled turned to the base layout on the ground to discuss positioning for the morrow.

Neytiri had been silent throughout the entire discussion. Jake turned to her while the others started working out where the warrior groups would be and took her arms, "How are you holding up? You okay?"

His mate nodded. "I will be glad when the ship is gone and we can get our son back."

He understood that sentiment completely. "The _tawtute_ may not hide warriors in the first load of crates. If I were them, I wouldn't. I'd wait until everyone felt safe and let their guard down first. It'll take days for them to bring all the supplies down."

"Then we must be watchful every time they come," she said definitively. "We must share this with the others." She walked towards the others with a firm and unhesitating step.

Jake had to admire her for it. Neytiri was every inch the hunter at the moment, just as she had been when they'd first met. Her determination to protect kin and clan was even stronger now than it had been back then. _God help whatever tawtute she comes across!_ he thought to himself. He had to chuckle, remembering when she'd come across _him_. _Damned lucky I didn't wind up perforated. Somehow I don't think anyone else'd get that lucky._ He followed her to the others to get ready for tomorrow's first delivery.


	29. Delivery

Delivery of the Venture Sun's cargo seemed to take forever. The Avatar Project scientists scanned each load for any sign of life before anyone was allowed to go near it. Only then would a couple of humans in AMP suits approach to open, one-by-one, those crates whose contents wouldn't be harmed by Pandoran atmosphere, with nervous Na'vi archers in attendance. The contents were then inspected and brought inside when they were judged safe to move. Things that couldn't be opened outside were trickier to deal with. Max and his crew had rigged one of Sec Ops' equipment bays as a secure area, and brought crates in to open and inspect them while safely behind doors designed to withstand explosive forces.

They were barely able to clear one load before the next came down. It was a tension filled process. Load after load came down with no obvious traps manifesting, which only increased the stress. When the last load was delivered and the Venture Sun departed (and nothing had happened,) Jake felt like he was about ready to explode.

"What the hell is going on here?" he vented his frustration and confusion with a few choice words.

Norm echoed the sentiment, "Hell if I know, Jake."

Perrat was just as uneasy as the others and mused out loud, "So we have not yet discovered a trap. That does not mean that one does not exist, it simply means that it is well hidden."

"Good point," commented Max from behind his rebreather.

"The _tawtute_ wish the _uniltirantokx_ home for themselves," Neytiri said, "but the Na'vi beat them the last time we fought."

"Which means?" asked a puzzled Sir'tey.

Jake had an inspiration, "That since they didn't have enough warriors to fight us openly, maybe their plan wasn't to fight the Na'vi at all." He stared meaningfully into Norm's eyes as he said it, somehow managing to convey a sense of underhanded nastiness.

The scientist's face fell and the ears of his avatar flattened themselves to his skull as he caught the direction of his friend's thoughts. "Oh God, you don't think..."

The marine was grim, "Can you think of a better way to take the base and completely avoid a fight? Nothing happens, the Na'vi go home, and..."

"What is it Jake, what do you mean?" Neytiri asked in confusion.

Norm felt sick to his stomach, but answered the tsahik, "He's talking about poison, Neytiri."

The Omaticaya Olo'eyktan nodded, "Nothing jumps out of the supplies, we all congratulate ourselves and go home, but the first time the dreamwalkers eat anything that was delivered..."

All the Na'vi present were horrified. Sir'tey grimly completed the statement, "The _uniltirantokx_ clan is killed without the _tawtute _fighting a single Na'vi, and the six-year ship with all its warriors occupies their empty clan-home without difficulty."

Jake turned to Grace's protege, "It could be chemically based, radiation..."

Max broke in, "They could have simply altered the food in a way that would make it non-nutritive. It could appear to be fine, but we'd starve to death eating it."

"_**If**_ that was all the food you had to depend on, yes," the marine confirmed.

"If this is truly their trap, then Eywa has already countered it by providing your people with our cured fish," Perrat reminded them firmly. "Do not eat their food unless you know it is safe. If there is any doubt..."

Norm's entire posture exuded relief, "Then it's pile on the tartar sauce and _bon apetit._"

Neytiri was puzzled by the unfamiliar term, "Tartar sauce?"

The xenoanthropologist chuckled, "Never mind, nothing important." He turned to the others, "I'll have my people check everything and tell them to destroy anything that looks the least bit dangerous. Thank Eywa for that fish! And the Ikran Clan, of course."

The Na'vi were much relieved. "Indeed," said Sir'tey, "It seems that She has taken care of this situation already, and that our help was not needed after all."

"She favors those who help Her, and Her children," Neytiri said firmly, "though She only assists when all other options are exhausted."

"True words," said Perrat, grateful that there'd been no need to fight. She turned to Norm, "Your _tawtute_ machines are certain that the great ship is gone, then?"

Max nodded his head and answered her, "We'll watch it for many days to be certain, but it has already started the great effort needed to run so far across the stars. That effort is not quickly or easily stopped without causing them great danger."

Jake turned to his friend, "So, you'll check everything out six ways from Sunday?"

Norm agreed emphatically, "We've still got lots of supplies from the Venture Nova to work through; we won't need these for a long time yet even if it was necessary. We'll be able to take our time and make sure everything we want to use is safe first."

There was a general sigh of relief through the group. "Then I think that our war party may safely disband," Perrat concluded.

Sir'tey chuckled, "After we celebrate this victory and thank Eywa for it, you mean."

A smile appeared on the Ikran Clan leader's face, "Of course."

The group broke up, Sir'tey and Perrat to go inform the members of the war party of their success.

Neytiri's face brightened with growing excitement and she turned to her mate, "Jake, does this mean that we can go get An'ts'it and bring him home now?"

That question was the last thing necessary to break the sense of tension the marine had been feeling. He opened his arms to his woman and wrapped them around her in a great hug, "We can go pick him up first thing in the morning, how's that?"

The Omatikaya tsahik's face took on a sly look as she returned the hug, "I would like that very much. We can celebrate tonight, then tomorrow he can ride with you on Swizaw when we go back to New Hometree." Her heart wanted to leap for joy as she whispered into Jake's ear, "After all, it would not be fair to you if I got to carry _both_ our children."

The stunned look on her mate's face was absolutely priceless.

Late that night, in the privacy of his personal quarters, Dave Robinson brooded over his display console. A frown furrowed his brow, as it had for the last several evenings. He felt furious, puzzled, disappointed, excited, and adrift all at the same time. The reason for his consternation consisted of four words that were being displayed on the screen. Four inscrutable, generic, frustrating words. He got up to go fetch himself yet another cup of coffee to try and shake his brain awake to figure out what they could possibly mean. As the dishes clanked and clattered in his little kitchinette the monitor kept displaying them with absolute indifference:

MESSAGE RECEIVED. STAND BY.


	30. Silver Lining

Max was becoming _seriously_ annoyed. _If little Miss Sunshine doesn't shut her trap soon, I'm going to upload my favorite heavy metal album to the shuttle's computers instead of the next nav data update and let her see her controls trying to plot a course from an electric guitar soundtrack the next time she goes on a test flight,_ he thought to himself.

It had been six weeks since the Venture Sun had left. The Na'vi had celebrated another great victory thanks to the wisdom of their Toruk Makto, Jake was over the moons about Neytiri's new pregnancy, and everyone had breathed a general sigh of relief now that they were facing a relative stretch of calm.

A group of the scientists had started analyzing every last item that the ISV had dropped off. The all-important raw materials for the Stereolithography plant were the first things that got checked. When they were cleared, everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief – and that was when Sara Evans started getting on Max' nerves.

She was on shift with him again today, much to his dismay. They'd started analyzing foodstuffs next. _Even though we've got the hydroponics and the Sea Clan's fish, every bit of usable food will stretch our supplies that much further. I don't doubt that Jake and Norm are right about what's coming on the Comet, so that makes this load even more important. Huh, maybe we should start in on the seed stock next. I can ask a couple of guys to start taking things out of stasis and... _

His thoughts were interrupted by his lab mate. "...I thought you guys were all over-reacting, and this just proves the point," Sara was saying. "If they really intended to screw you guys over all they had to do was just turn around and go home, since they knew they were going to be leaving without any unobtanium anyway."

Max had to clamp down hard on his retort. _Oh yeah, just turn around and run right home with empty fuel tanks, yeah right. _He mentally slapped himself in the head. _Get yourself together, you're letting her live rent-free in your skull, you twit. _He refocused on what he was doing. It was a good thing he did; he almost skipped over the latest printout too quickly. _Hmm, that's odd,_ he thought. _Nothing seriously out of line, but..._

He took a sample from the batch of coffee that the report had been generated from while his companion chattered on to herself, and took it over to a different diagnostic unit.

"I'm sure all this has been just a huge mistake. I don't doubt that SecOps made a major screw-up, probably because of that G.I. Jerk and Administrator PHB that you guys had to deal with, but I'm sure they were way out of bounds as far as the RDA's concerned. They'll get whacked when they get home, and we'll get a sane bunch of admins and things'll get back to normal, you'll see." Sara was lucky that Max' attention had been caught by his data. She was busy digging into a crate for the next package and so didn't see his back stiffen in shock.

She dropped a heavy box on the worktable. The loud noise made the fuzzy haired scientist start. "Jeez, lay off the caffeine, willya? You're as jumpy as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs," Sara commented.

Max ripped a printout off of the analyzer, and hit the button for a second copy. He had a scowl on his face that would have frightened a pit bull, if there were any left.

"What's the matter?" she asked, "They send us Columbian instead of Arabian? What's with the face?"

He tore the second printout off of the machine and all but slammed it down on the table in front of her. "Read that, Miss 'It's All A Misunderstanding.' Read it, and if I ever hear your cheery attitude in here again I'll shove you out the nearest airlock without a rebreather with my own hands."

Sara was taken aback by the hostility to say the least, and didn't say a thing as he stormed out of the lab and slammed the door behind him. _Geez, what the hell got into him?_ She picked up the report and started reading, curious to know what had set him off. She hadn't gotten very far before her eyes widened. _Oh no. No. Oh my God. This can't be. The only possible way this could happen is..._ The engineer went cold all over as her world crashed to rubble around her.

Max was filling Norm in shortly thereafter. "So none of it is usable?" the head of the Avatar Project asked with dejection.

"The non-food goods will be mostly unaffected," his friend said in a heavy tone of voice. "We'll have to scrub some of it, but that won't be a big deal. The seed stock shouldn't be affected; it was double-shielded."

Norm sighed, "Tell the Ag guys to segregate it anyway. Anything grown from it gets analyzed for mutations before it gets used."

"And the rest of it?" his friend asked.

"Dump it in the deepest dry area of the pit and bury it," Norm ordered dejectedly.

Max nodded and left without saying anything more. _I wish I could say something to make him feel better,_ he thought as he quietly closed the office door behind him. _Norm never asked for any of this, and he's done a hell of a job with the hand he's been dealt. He's done as much for us as Jake has done for the Na'vi, in his own way. We're damned lucky that Jake and Norm were on the Venture Star. I don't know if anyone else could have accomplished all that they have, and we're still a long way from being out of the woods. How does he sleep at night? Even if the Comet's supplies are good – fat chance – that only puts off the inevitable. No one here is ever going back to Earth again, that's for sure. How can he deal with it, knowing that most of us are likely gonna die out here? _He shook his head, giving himself another mental slap. "Get hold of yourself Max," he said out loud. "You know what your ma always said – trouble will find you soon enough on its own, no need to go borrowing more." He headed down the hall dejectedly to gather a dumping crew.

The atmosphere at New Hometree was difficult for Norm to deal with that evening. The Omatikaya were happy and their lives were back to normal for the moment. He was torn between allowing himself to be lulled by his adopted kin and pulling away so that he wouldn't contaminate their evening with his bad attitude.

Jake's lips were set in a narrow line that indicated the anger and frustration that he was feeling on his friend's behalf. "So it's contaminated? All of it?"

Norm nodded confirmation, "Just as you suspected. Someone obviously sent an override command to the Venture Sun to drop a section of the radiation shielding over the cargo bay. The captain and crew wouldn't have done it – too likely that they'd be affected by it themselves for them to take that kind of a risk. More than half of the passengers in cryo will be dead of radiation sickness by the time they get back to Earth. The food they delivered would eventually kill us if we tried to eat it. Max saw higher than expected levels of free radicals in one of the samples he analyzed, and that told him what to look for."

The Na'vi were a bit confused by the details of the discussion. Neytiri questioned them, "So all the food they gave to you has been poisoned?"

Jake reached over and took her hand, to comfort both her and himself. "The place between the worlds is dangerous, Neytiri." He tried to put things in terms she would understand, "Even though there is no air to breathe, there is a type of poisonous 'wind' between the stars that quickly kills any living thing, and can even destroy things that are not living, given enough time."

Mo'at summarized, "And the _tawtute_ exposed the food they gave you to these poisonous winds, hoping that you would eat it and die of them." The expression on her face was bleak. "Truly, they are no longer your Clan, no longer part of your People." The Tsahik regarded the xenoanthropologist with pity and compassion, "I See now why Eywa has brought you here and offered you Her shelter. You are the last of your kind with any sanity at all."

Norm wanted to cry. That sounded like the most accurate summation of their situation that he'd heard, and it wasn't encouraging.

"Come on, let's go get something to eat," Jake urged his friend. "Gotta keep your strength up."

"You go ahead Jake, I need a minute." Norm demurred.

The marine nodded sympathetically, "Take your time."

Neytiri reached over and touched his face in a gesture of comfort before following her mate. He nodded his head briefly in thanks, unwilling to trust himself to speak. He sat by himself for a few minutes after everyone had left, trying to get himself together. _Maybe I should just call it a night,_ he thought gloomily, _No reason I should infect everyone else with my bad attitude._ His stomach chose that moment to growl in protest – it had been a long time since he'd eaten. He was trying to determine whether it would settle down and leave him alone or not when he heard a soft step approaching. His ears pricked up.

To his surprise, Tanhi appeared in front of him. She set her hands on her hips, "And what do you think you are doing?" she demanded.

He couldn't think of anything he might have done to tick off the healer recently, "Huh?" he said intelligently.

She made a hissing-cat sound of exasperation and reached for his arm. "_Skawng._ Going to sit there and mope until you start sprouting moss, no doubt. Come with me, you idiot. You're going to get some food inside you before you dry up and blow away, and then you're going to come with me on a _pa'li_ ride until you lose that attitude." She didn't give him any alternative, almost pulling him off his feet.

"Hey! Cut it out!" he yelped as he stumbled over a knot in the tree bark.

The healer just clucked her tongue reproachfully, "Clumsy as a two year old, I swear..." and dragged him off to the eating-place.

After he'd eaten enough to satisfy her, she all but threw him on top of a _pa'li_ that seemed to have racehorse ambitions. He didn't have any choice but to give his mount his full attention, as it seemed to be hell-bent on inventing a Pandoran version of steeplechase on the spot. Norm was covered with sweat and exhausted to the point of feeling shaky by the time Tanhi was satisfied and led them back to New Hometree. The cool river water felt wonderful as he washed the sweat and dirt off. She inspected his face closely when he came out of the water, and nodded in satisfaction. "Much better."

He realized what she'd done and was grateful. "Tanhi, thanks. I really needed that."

"Any time," the healer said saucily as she wandered off.

Norm chuckled and headed up the Tree to park his avatar in its hammock. He dropped the link and opened the clamshell to climb out. It was a little weird to feel how rested his human body was, having just left his physically exhausted avatar. _Oh well. Guess I could go get a couple hours of paperwork done before I crash._ He headed out to his office.

He was surprised to find someone waiting there for him. Sara Evans rose from the chair she'd been sitting in and turned to face him. "Something I can do for you, Doctor Evans?" he asked politely.

Sara had an expression on her face that suggested she was ready and willing to pull out a knife and gut the next person who crossed her. She thrust her copy of Max' report on the irradiated food supplies into his hands and looked him straight in the eyes. "I want everyone on this base evaluated for flight skills. Give me everybody who knows anything about weapons, and get me access to all the designs we've got for the stereolithography plant. Those bastards are going down."


	31. Lackey

The voice emanating from the vidscreen sounded both irritated, and – to the RDAs CEO – frightened. "What the hell am I supposed to tell the President, that an eighth of an ISV load of unobtanium has just vanished into thin air? You think I'm that stupid? Or suicidal?"

The whisperer kept his opinion of the man's intelligence to himself. _No matter how high up in the government he is, he's just a lackey. A stupid one, to be sure, but well connected. As much as I'd like to show him the consequences of stupidity, I need him to be my messenger. Messengers are expendable, after all. I need that layer of insurance, especially now._ He spoke calmly and soothingly, "No, of course not. And it certainly has not vanished, not at all. We've simply quarantined that part of the cargo in the interests of safety. Our metallurgists simply wanted to run some extra tests since some unusual trace elements were noticed in several of the control samples," he lied easily.

He then cannily addressed what he suspected was the real reason behind the man's nervousness. "The President will certainly be collecting his entire share of the profit on the full load of cargo. We have ample unobtanium on hand to answer all our contractual obligations for the negligible amount of time that it will take to run a few precautionary tests. It may even be that the trace elements present may result in an improved energy yield. We certainly want to take every advantage if that turns out to be the case."

The lackey visibly relaxed and calmed down. _Ha. Got him. He's getting a kickback on the tax revenues we pay for each load,_ the CEO congratulated himself. _I'll set my protege to work on this one. If we can't buy him, we can eliminate him. His successor surely won't get as generous a bribe, so he'll be more open to our manipulation than this one is. _He put an expression of polite attentiveness on his face.

"That's good to know. I apologize for the misunderstanding. So I can tell the President that he'll be receiving the amount due..."

"On time and in full," the whisperer concluded confidently and smoothly.

"Yes, well, thank you. I'm sorry I was so short earlier, I'm afraid I was misinformed. I'll make sure that I receive more accurate data in the future," the government official replied in a tone that boded ill for the poor soul that had provided him with the (heavily edited) cargo manifest.

"Yes, well, communication errors do happen," the CEO replied in a benign tone. He didn't care about petty underlings losing their jobs – or their lives.

"Too true," the lackey said philosophically. "May I tell the President that you'll be attending the state dinner next month? He said he'd be honored if you could make it."

"Certainly," the whisperer inclined his head graciously, "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Relieved, the official nodded his head and signed off. The vidscreen went dark. The CEO turned to his protege, who had stayed discreetly off-camera during the phone call.

Brown Hair wore a worried expression. "I didn't expect the President's office to be on us so soon. The cargo manifest that we released is barely a week old. The data was so obfuscated, I'm surprised they discovered the discrepancy so quickly."

The whisperer snorted disdainfully, "The President has made some very injudicious decisions lately, and he's desperate for untraceable funds at the moment. He didn't expect his little pet project would get exposed or that the sheeple would put up such an outcry about it. He's having to spread a great deal of money around to hush things up and buy off the right politicians. "

"Will he be able to do it?" Brown Hair worried, "He _is_ a Project client, after all. If he's exposed, he may start saying things he shouldn't if he thinks he's going to fall."

The CEO frowned, "A valid point. I think it would be wise of us to assist him. You know who to contact – let's put a little gentle pressure on the appropriate people to get them to overlook this. A youthful error, a misunderstanding, etc. Make sure the President knows who the favors come from." He smiled, "We'll show up at that state dinner with him being very aware of how much more in _our_ debt he stands." The smile vanished, "And let's make sure that if his efforts fail he won't be in any condition to say anything about the Project to anyone."

Brown Hair was visibly relieved and left to go carry out the orders. The whisperer leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers before him. _He's right, the reduced tonnage shouldn't have been noticed so quickly. Is it possible that they were tipped off somehow? I'll have to have that investigated. Not by my bright little protege, though._

The CEO almost shuddered, _It was foolish of me to have given such hasty orders regarding the Venture Sun. I almost gave away a great deal more than I intended. Good thing I'd come up with an alternative by the time he gathered the courage to object. He was right, of course. I can't afford – the Project can't afford - to have Sully tipped off prematurely._

The whisperer's thoughts returned to his protege._ If he knew the true extent of our situation he might well be tempted to take advantage of it – and things are far too precarious at the moment. I can't afford to be distracted by an internal takeover attempt. Should I have him removed? _ He ruminated over that for a bit. _No, not yet. The most useful tools are of necessity the most dangerous. If everything crashes he's the only one with the intelligence and incentive to continue the Project. As long as the Project stays intact, I'm safe._

That decision made, he activated his computer terminal to check on the RDAs private unobtanium stores. The numbers were not reassuring, despite the sizable increase made by the additional tonnage that had been reassigned from the latest ISV delivery. _Only two loaded ISVs left,_ he worried. _I've got no choice, I'm going to have to confiscate even more from them than I did from this one._

He checked the progress on the Venture Pulsar's refit next. _Not good enough. I need that ship at Pandora as quickly as possible. I'll put round the clock double shifts on the reconstruction. They'll have to shorten the quality checks, we can't afford to waste that much time._

An idea hit him as he contemplated the dreadnought. _Why should I wait on sending followup ISVs? I'll have most of the fleet here by the time the Pulsar launches, why not send them all? The moment Pandora is subdued I'll have ISVs full of miners and military on the scene and at least half a dozen ships ready and waiting for cargo. To hell with spacing them out, I'll send everything as fast as they can be launched without affecting each others' flight parameters!_ _ The stores should last that long – and with loaded ships returning so close to each other, no one will notice what goes back into our private stockpile. I could even confiscate more than before, and everyone would be so grateful that the unobtanium is flowing again that they'd never even notice!_

A huge weight tumbled off his shoulders as the plan took shape. He spent an hour or two refining it. By the time he was satisfied it was becoming quite late. The whisperer was about to shut down the console when he remembered something else he had wanted to check. _Oh yes. Let's see how that little surprise for Corporal Sully is coming along._ He tapped a few keys, entered a few security codes, and then a message obediently came up on the screen.

TIME TO DECANTING: 2 years, 7 months, 17 days.


	32. Tree

Jake had had enough crises for a while. It went without saying that they were nowhere near out of the woods, so to speak, but with this latest threat to the Avatar scientists thwarted and almost three years of relative peace in front of him, he was ready for some down time.

An'ts'it woke them up fairly early, as usual. At nearly eighteen months the boy was fully mobile now and needed careful watching. He had his own little hammock strung up right next to his parents' sleeping space. Neytiri had shown Jake how to thread a cord through the weaving once the baby was tucked in to make sure that he couldn't get out of it and wander off in the middle of the night. That meant that the boy usually woke them by doing a fairly credible imitation of a howler monkey as soon as morning came, demanding to be let out of bed.

Jake got up and helped his son out of the hammock while his mate indulged in some leisurely stretches before rising. The little family trooped downstairs and headed for the eating area. The Olo'eyktan fetched food for the three of them while Neytiri got the baby settled. She picked a strip of dried meat from the serving leaf that her mate presented and gave it to her hungry son. An'ts'it chewed the strip ferociously, satisfying both his hunger and his need to chew on something to soothe his latest erupting teeth.

They weren't halfway through their meal when the Tsahik appeared and joined them. Both of them were surprised to see a pensive expression on Mo'at's face. The baby reached out for his grandmother and the elder willingly took the child into her arms.

Neytiri was the first to voice her concern, "_Ma'sa'nok?_ You look troubled. Is something wrong?"

Her mother settled the boy on her lap where he contentedly resumed his chewing. "I have been concerned for some time," she admitted, "but focusing our attention on our _uniltirantokx_ friends was more important. Now that they are safe..."

"We have time to address other things," Jake concluded as he sipped the bitter root-tea he favored for waking himself up in the morning. "So, what's been eating you?"

Both Neytiri and Mo'at looked at him in startlement, and he realized that he'd never used that colloquialism with them before. It had been a while since he'd made such a _faux pas._ It had sounded kind of funny, actually, now that he thought of it. He laid his ears back sheepishly and grinned, "Sorry. What's bothering you?"

Mo'at gave her son in law a long look, then replied, "It has been over two and a half years since we came to New Hometree, and we have not yet found the new Tree of Voices that you told us we would find here."

"I did? I said that? When?" Jake was startled, "When did I say that?"

"When you first woke up, after Eywa moved your spirit into this body permanently," Neytiri filled in, "Don't you remember, Jake?"

The marine shook his head in negation, confused. "I don't remember much of anything from that night," he admitted. "It's all fuzzy, kind of like that time I got smashed on _kava._ I said there was a new Tree of Voices somewhere around here?"

Mo'at nodded decisively. "Every clan-home has a Sacred Tree near it, so that all can easily have access to Eywa. The Great Mother would not have given us a new Hometree that did not have a Sacred Tree nearby. I am concerned that we have not yet found it. We are fortunate that our clan is so close to the Tree of Souls; we have been able to travel there for most of what we need..."

"But we have clanmates without _ikran,_ and many who are young, who need to hear Eywa's voice and cannot make such a journey," Neytiri concluded.

"The hunters have all been looking for a new Tree," Jake offered, "but I assumed it was just … I don't know, a given that there'd be one somewhere around."

"You don't remember telling us about it?" Mo'at inquired, "You don't have any idea where we should be searching?"

The marine shook his head regretfully, "Not a clue."

Neytiri sighed, "If we have not found it yet, then it can only be that Eywa has decreed that it is not yet time for us to find it."

Her mother echoed the sigh, "Truly. It is very uncomfortable not to have a Sacred Tree near us though. I had hoped we would have found it by now."

The comment touched something from his _tsahik_ lessons in Jake's mind. "Maybe that's the reason?"

The Tsahik looked up, startled, "What do you mean?"

He tried to gather his thoughts and explain, "Well, maybe the clan needs a Tree _too_ much right now?" Both women looked at him strangely, and he elaborated, "The Omatikaya go to the Tree of Voices to hear those who have gone to Eywa, right?"

Neytiri nodded and gestured to him to continue.

"The past three years have been really tough for the clan, more stressful than it's been in decades, maybe centuries, yes?" he asked.

Mo'at had to agree, "Not since the time of the fifth Toruk Makto has there been so much danger, yes. What is your point?"

Jake gestured with his hands, "When things get really rough, people tend to grab on to anything they can and hold onto it tight. What I'm saying is that maybe, if we had found a new Tree of Voices as soon as we'd gotten here, maybe the Omatikaya would have been tempted to rely on the Tree too much?"

His mate was impressed, "Instead of relying on themselves first, which is what Eywa teaches us we must do before She will grant us Her aid."

The clan Tsahik was surprised, "Which would be a very good reason for Her to keep it hidden from us until the temptation had passed." She turned a dry look on her son in law, "So, it seems that some things have managed to get into your thick skull after all."

Jake grinned while his mate snickered. The adults turned their attention back to their meal, and when they had finished the Olo'eyktan headed out to find Sir'tey, and Neytiri took her son with her to go speak with a clay-worker who had asked for her assistance with a project.

Mo'at finished her own meal, speaking warmly to everyone who greeted her as they passed by. She set her used leaf-plate in the pile to be used for fuel as she left the eating-place. The Tsahik watched her fellow Omatikaya beginning the day for a while, unable to shake the sense of unease that still hung over her head, and decided that she would head out into the jungle instead of sticking with her usual daily routine.

As she left the bustle and noise of New Hometree behind her and started to work her way up into the blue-shadowed under canopy of the forest, her concern deepened and took on an unusually sharp focus.

Where _was_ the Tree?


	33. Tsahik

About a month before the gathering following the Venture Sun's visit, New Hometree received an unexpected visitor.

Jake was speaking with a clansman when he heard the alert call for an incoming _ikran_ and looked up reflexively. He knew it was a visitor and not an Omatikaya just because of the time of day; the early scouts and hunters had long since left and were not due to return for quite a while yet. He shrugged it off and returned to his conversation, since visitors were fairly common. The thought occurred to him that when he'd arrived three years ago he'd have had no idea what the sound was. Now he not only understood it, he was able to place it in context and draw meaningful information from it. An interesting measure of how much he'd changed since he'd arrived on Pandora.

He finished his chat and was considering what to do next when a child came running up to him, "Olo'eyktan! The Tsahik asks you to join her and Neytiri in the healers' place as soon as you can."

Jake smiled and thanked the child, who was obviously proud of herself for having successfully delivered the message. He proceeded to the healer's enclave – empty except for the one healer on duty; the others were out gathering materials or making visits. The healer gestured him towards the back of the infirmary area. _Empty, thank God,_ he noted with pleasure.

Mo'at and Neytiri were speaking with a woman whose back was to him. He couldn't place the person; it wasn't an Omatikaya. _Our visitor, obviously. But who?_

He wasn't left to wonder for very long. Neytiri saw him first and waved him over. She wore a troubled look on her face, something he didn't care to see. The visitor turned to see who the pregnant woman was gesturing to.

A shock of recognition went through the Olo'eyktan. "Tsahik Vireya! _Kaltxi,_ it is good to see you again."

The Tsahik of the Green Rock Clan returned the greeting, though her expression was even more troubled than Neytiri's. "_Kaltxi,_ Toruk Macto. It is good to see you as well, though I wish the circumstances were better. I bring ill news."

Jake looked around to confirm that no one else was in earshot, and gestured an invitation to sit. The four of them made themselves comfortable.

Vireya said unhappily, "I was just telling Mo'at and Neytiri that I am very concerned about Ikariyu."

The former marine was instantly apprehensive, "Has he done something unusual?"

The visitor shook her head, "Not yet, but he has been saying some troubling things, especially since the last _tawtute_ ship left us."

"What kinds of things?" Jake asked quietly.

"He heard about the _tawtute_ poisoning the food that was given to the _uniltirantokx_ clan," Vireya explained, "and he has been telling the others that people who would poison their own would poison anyone."

Toruk Macto was grim, "I'll have to give him that much."

Green Rock's Tsahik continued, "He does not wish to wait for the next ship to arrive; he is already sending small parties out to the hiding-camps."

Mo'at was shocked, "But that leaves your Hometree undermanned!"

"And the people in the hiding-camps are much more vulnerable without the protection of all of your warriors!" Neytiri exclaimed in dismay.

Vireya nodded in unhappy agreement, "He says that he is only obeying the wishes of Toruk Macto in establishing the camps, but he is not just creating them – he has people occupying them already. So far nothing has happened, thank Eywa, but it can only be a matter of time until one of the camps is attacked."

"What do the people of Green Rock think about this?" Jake asked quietly.

Ikariyu's mate became even more uncomfortable, "They do not like it," she admitted. "While the tawtute ship was here no one minded, but now... The ones in the camps do not like being away from our Hometree when there is no _tawtute_ ship here to threaten them. So far, he has kept only the strong there – warriors, hunters, those needed to set up the camps."

"Which leaves your Hometree without them," Neytiri commented.

Vireya agreed. "They are close enough that we have managed so far, but it is already putting a strain on our hunters, since they are having to provide for both the Tree and the camps. This cannot continue for very long." She turned to Jake in dismay, "The people mutter that Ikariyu is afraid, Toruk Macto – and they are right." The woman looked like she was about to cry. "My Ikariyu has always been a good hunter. He was a good leader for our clan, a good provider for our daughters. But when the _tawtute_ destroyed the Omatikaya Hometree his heart was seized by a fear beyond anything I have ever seen. He does not hear me when I tell him that Eywa has sent you to save us, and that all will be well if he will only do as Toruk Macto advises." That last hit Jake far too close to home, and he squirmed uncomfortably.

Neytiri asked, "Are Green Rock's warriors and hunters practicing the fighting that Jake has taught them? And the _nantang-_ball?"

She nodded, "The senior warriors began teaching the younger ones as soon as they returned to us, as he had asked them to do."

"I bet that went over like a ton of bricks," Jake muttered to himself. The Green Rock Tsahik ruefully agreed.

Mo'at asked quietly, "And what of Woruo?"

Her counterpart replied, "He leads the others in making sure that everyone is taught the new skills. Ikariyu tried to send him off to one of the camps, but Woruo said loudly that he was doing what Toruk Macto had personally told him was necessary to protect the People. Ikariyu had to back down, immediately."

The marine wanted to cover his face with his hands, "Great. Even better." He had to take a couple of deep breaths before asking, "Vireya, what do you want me to do? Ikariyu is Olo'eyktan of Green Rock. I am Omatikaya. I have no right to interfere. If your clan has a problem with the way your mate is leading them, then it's up to them to decide what to do about it."

The look that the woman gave him was near-desperate. "I thought that maybe you could speak to him? Olo'eyktan to Olo'eyktan? He saw for himself how devastated Omatikaya was when your Old Hometree was destroyed. Under your leadership your clan has a new Hometree, it is prospering, even if it is not yet as strong as it used to be. For that alone he should value your words."

Jake shook his head sadly, "I'm honored that you think so, but Eywa's responsible for most of it. She told us where to find the new Tree, she provided the sturmbeest herd and the help from the other Clans that got us back on our feet..." He took a deep breath, "I'm sorry Vireya, I'll gladly try to talk to him, but my heart says he won't listen to me."

The Green Rock Tsahik sucked in a deep, almost sobbing breath. "I fear that as well, but I had to ask. I had to try."

"What will you do if he will not listen?" Neytiri asked softly.

The older woman blinked back tears. "The only thing I can do. Listen for the voice of the All Mother. And if Eywa decides that Ikariyu is no longer capable of leading Green Rock, then it is my responsibility to follow Her wishes – against my own mate." Vireya buried her face in her hands. Both Mo'at and Neytiri reached out to comfort their friend.

"Has She said anything to you about this?" Neytiri asked quietly.

The visiting Tsahik shook her head and let her hands fall, reaching out to touch both of the Omatikaya women in gratitude. "Not yet, but how can She not? The first dangerous ship comes in two and a half years, and Green Rock is divided. How can we learn to act as one with the other clans when we cannot even act as one among ourselves? She _must_ act, and quickly, if the Na'vi are to be united against the _tawtute _when they arrive_." _Vireya looked down at her lap and burst into tears again, "How can I declare that _my own mate_ is no longer Olo'eyktan?"

Jake's heart went out to the woman. _I can't do a damned thing about it myself, but how much worse is it for her? She __**can**__ act – she has the responsibility to act – but how the hell could she make herself go through with it? God help me if Neytiri and I were ever in this kind of situation! The poor woman must want to curl up and hide._

The marine was frustrated and getting angry – his usual response to feeling helpless when things he cared about were on the line. He reached out and laid a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder, "Look, it'll all work out. You have to trust Eywa. She sent the younger brothers and sisters to save us in the last war, she provided for the Omatikaya when we'd lost everything, she's even provided for the _uniltirantokx_ clan. She'll take care of it. We'll do everything we possibly can, and if that isn't enough then She'll be there. I know She will." The Tsahik made an attempt at a smile and nodded, thanking him for the support.

Mo'at took charge, gesturing to her friend, "Come and rest. Let us take care of you for just a little while before you return." The woman allowed herself to be persuaded, and Jake watched his mate and mother in law shepherd the visitor out of the healers' place with a heavy heart.

His lips set in a thin line and he looked down, dejected for a moment. _When I came here, all I wanted was one damn thing to care about, one thing worth fighting for,_ he thought. His eyes went to the now-empty doorway, _Now I've not only got a whole damn planet to fight for, I've got to keep it from falling apart from the inside while I'm fighting for it!_


	34. Parley

Jake moved easily through the crowds of Na'vi at the gathering, often smiling and chatting briefly with those around him. The only difference between him and the others that any onlooker might have seen were the extra digits on his hands and feet. He took his time wandering through the numerous trading stalls that were set up all over the gathering-grounds. Neytiri was far too advanced in pregnancy to be able to attend and that saddened him a bit, now that he realized how much of an event these semiannual fairs were for the Na'vi. He was determined that she not miss out on the fun entirely, so he'd brought the hide, horns, and teeth (which customarily went to the successful hunter) from one of his recent kills with him, intending to trade them for something that he could give to her as a gift.

The Olo'eyktan nosed his way through the jewelcrafters' area, but didn't see anything there that really jumped out at him. The clay workers had a couple of things that looked mildly interesting. He noted with pride that the Omatikaya clay workers were getting quite skilled – the third place prize feather fluttered proudly from a piece that bore his clan's mark. Jake grinned softly and shook his head as the pride registered. _After everything that's happened, I'm standing here puffing my chest out over a clay pot._ He reached out and gently touched the rim of the container as he got thoughtful. _Or maybe not so silly after all. Winning a war is a great achievement, but one that comes with a horrible price. Isn't an accomplishment of peace that no one has to die for preferable? _A wistful smile turned up the corners of his mouth and he made a mental note to congratulate the creator of the jar in person when he got home.

He picked up a toy for An'ts'it – his son was fast approaching two years old, and was as energetic and as likely to get into trouble as any other two year old. The boy wore _him_ out at times! _It's a good thing Mo'at likes to take him any chance she can get, and the child-tenders love him – An'alla says he's already got a particular handful of kids he likes to play with. So Neytiri's able to rest whenever she needs to. _Jake clicked the toy and smiled, _This'll keep him occupied for hours. _He tucked it carefully into the net bag and continued on. Once he'd finished acquiring gifts he headed for the area where the war council customarily met.

He went over his plan for speaking with Ikariyu in his mind, even as he chatted casually with the other Olo'eyktan and Tsahiks as they arrived. _I'll ask him to share the things he's learned about setting up temporary camps with the others. He's done more of those than anyone, so he'll have good information that everyone'll be able to use. Asking him will show that I respect him as a fellow Olo'eyktan, that I respect what he's accomplished, and the others will be grateful to him for saving them the effort of fixing whatever snafus occurred that he had to iron out. Hopefully the public appreciation will put him in a good enough mood so that when I ask to speak to him privately afterwards he'll be willing to listen._

Mo'at appeared nearby, obviously looking for him, and he waved to get her attention. She strode over to him with purpose and with a slight frown on her face.

"Something wrong?" her son in law asked.

Neytiri's mother sat beside the Olo'eyktan. "Not wrong. In fact, something wrong has fixed itself – but I do not know why."

Jake observed, "That's fairly confusing."

She expanded on her answer. "I have been speaking to the other Clan Tsahiks since I arrived. Each one has said the same thing to me. Do you remember, more than three years ago, I told you that more male children than female were being born?"

He was startled. "Yeah. You were worried about it because it meant things were out of balance."

Mo'at nodded. "All the Tsahiks say the same now – males and females are being born in equal numbers again, and they do not know why things have shifted."

Now that _was_ a puzzle. Jake furrowed his brow, thinking out loud. "So, however many extra males Eywa needed us to have are here." He didn't have any more of a clue than the others, and tried to relate it to their situation. "We're two and a half years away from the six year ship, they'll obviously have nothing to do with that. They'll be nine years old when the twelve year ship gets here. Maybe they'll have something to do with that, but I can't imagine what." He frowned. "Did you find out how many 'extra' male children there are in each clan? That might give us a clue."

The Tsahik was startled and a bit chagrined, "No, it did not occur to me to ask. I will check with the others and find out."

He nodded acceptance. "_Irayo._ Maybe when we find out how many there are something'll come to me."

She agreed, and they chatted some more while the last few Na'vi – including Ikariyu – drifted in to the council space. It was obvious that the Green Rock Olo'eyktan had timed his arrival in order to avoid giving anyone an opportunity to speak with him before the meeting got started.

Jake winced internally, but called the meeting to order. Everyone got a chance to speak regarding the Venture Sun's visit. When it was time, he asked Ikariyu to share what had been learned about populating the temporary camps. There was noticeable muttering in the background when the Green Rock leader got up to speak. It only subsided when the marine pointed out that all the clans would be sending people to the camps when the next ship came and that Ikariyu's information would help them avoid problems when they did so.

He looked around the meeting-area while his fellow Olo'eyktan was speaking. Many clan warriors were gathered around, listening attentively. After a few minutes Jake spotted Woruo in the crowd. _The man looks – rebellious is the only word I can think of. Great. I hope to hell he doesn't start something. Ikariyu isn't in a great mood to begin with, and if Woruo pisses him off before I can talk to him, it'll be game over._

Thankfully, the clan leaders managed to stay focused on the tasks ahead. They quizzed Green Rock's Olo'eyktan thoroughly on what he had learned about running the temporary camps without straying into any personal opinions of the man's actions.

Ikariyu sat down next to his mate Vireya as soon as everyone had finished asking their questions, and the topic switched to a discussion of the Ikran Clan's plans for dealing with the expected attack. Jake was on pins and needles for the rest of the meeting, itching to get the Green Rock leader alone as soon as possible.

He was on his feet the moment it concluded and went straight to the tall Na'vi. "_Kaltxi,_ Ikariyu. I wanted to thank you for sharing your experiences with the camps with everyone. It will save us all a good deal of trouble later."

The man was obviously suspicious of Jake's motives, but managed a polite nod of acknowledgment.

The marine saw Woruo edging nearer out of the corner of his eye. He immediately gestured in the opposite direction, "I wonder if you would do me the favor of speaking privately with me for a little while?" The Green Rock Olo'eyktan was startled but acquiesced. Jake immediately led him away from the disgruntled warrior.

He turned after they were well away from the others, noticing thankfully that Vireya had intercepted and detained Woruo. Ikariyu was obviously uncomfortable at being alone with the Toruk Macto and asked brusquely, "What is it that you wish to speak of?"

_Not a great beginning,_ Jake though to himself. He didn't have any choice, though. "Now that the _tawtute_ ship has gone, I wanted to ask about the people that you still have living in the temporary camps."

Ikariyu turned to face him angrily, as if his suspicions had been confirmed. "How I lead my clan is no concern of the Omatikaya."

_Ouch!_ "Of course not, of course not," Jake tried to calm the man. "I was only wondering how difficult it must be to keep all the camps and your Hometree safe at the same time, with your people spread out so much."

Unfortunately, Ikariyu took the question in the absolute worst way. Insult suffused his features along with anger, turning his face nearly violet. "I know how to manage my people, Toruk Macto. My hunters and warriors are easily capable of caring for both the camps and our Hometree, and you should stay out of Green Rock's concerns!"

The Na'vi stormed off angrily before Jake could say another word. He looked towards Vireya – she had seen the whole thing of course. There was no need to speak to her; she had a heartbroken expression on her face. Woruo's expression was black.

Jake watched the Green Rock Olo'eyktan's retreating back. _Great. Just great. Now what the hell do I do?_


	35. Despair

The Na'vi weren't the only coalition showing strain. The scientists at Hell's Gate were not doing well. When Grace had informed them that Selfridge had sold them out and used them in order to destroy the Omatikaya, it had seemed a no-brainer to support the Na'vi against those who had set them up. Three years later, that solidity was beginning to show some serious cracks.

The irradiated food supplies were a reality check for anyone who'd been thinking that there might be eventual forgiveness for what had happened. There wasn't any way they could explain away or misinterpret the evidence that the RDA wanted them all dead. Despair started creeping in.

Max noticed one of the younger scientists staring sightlessly across a microscope, unmoving, with an expression of hopelessness on his face. He walked over and laid a gentle hand on his colleague's shoulder, "John, you all right?" he asked gently.

The man dropped his hands and leaned back in his chair, abandoning the pretense of getting any work done and looking up at the neuroscientist. "Why are we doing this, Max? Why are we trying to find answers for people who are trying to kill us? What's the point? What are we trying to prove?" He pointed bitterly at the microscope, "Is it just for the sake of giving us something to do while we're waiting for death to catch up to us on this godforsaken planet? What the hell were we thinking?"

Dr. Patel sat on the edge of the desk, not letting go of the man's shoulder. "John, no, it's not like that at all. We're not doing it for them, you know that. There are plenty of people on Earth that're just like us, good people, people who care. They're not the RDA any more than you or I are. They want to live just as much as we do, but they don't know how to fix the mess they're in. They're looking at death just as much as we are. We're their last hope. This isn't make-work, it isn't just a way to kill time. The answer is out there, right in front of us, you can see it," he gestured with his chin towards the jungle outside. "They're depending on us to find it and figure out how to save our home. We can't let them down."

John closed his eyes and gave a heavy sigh. "Yeah, I know," he spoke dejectedly. "It's just … I guess when we helped kick SecOps out we weren't really thinking that we were signing our own death warrants. It's hard, you know?"

Max gripped the man's shoulder in comfort. "Don't talk like that John, we're gonna get through this, you'll see. Hey, if it'll help, take a couple of days off, okay? Get some rest. We've all been working like hell. Maybe a couple of days'll give you a chance to catch your breath, eh?"

His colleague nodded. "Yeah. Thanks. Sorry, didn't mean to dump on you like that."

The neuroscientist stood up, "No problem, I'm always here. Glad to help." He watched with worry as the man pushed away from the table without even bothering to shut the equipment off.

Norm was experiencing much the same from others on the base and was deeply concerned. He was incredibly grateful for Sara Evans' turnaround now, and for more than one reason. _That's a one-woman hurricane if ever I saw one,_ he thought to himself. Now that she was firmly in their camp she was practically a force of nature herself, working with each of the scientists in turn to ascertain what skills they had that she might put to good use. Anyone working with her didn't have the time or energy for moping or despair. They were just too busy.

_That's the absolute best cure I've ever seen. Can't ignore the fact that this __**is**__about as hopeless a situation as anything has ever been, but falling into paralysis definitely isn't going to help the situation any. I should take the ones that don't have the skills she needs and have them pick up some of the work from the ones that do. Not to overload them, just to keep them busy enough to keep them from dwelling on things too much. A busy mind doesn't have time to get out of hand. _His thoughts were running parallel to Max', _I'll remind them that they're fighting for Earth's survival, to help the folks back home. That's important enough to keep them focused, at least for now._

What bothered him the most was that he'd started to hear rumors. He'd walked into a lab once or twice himself and noticed whispered conversations suddently cut short or abruptly changed. The other Avatar drivers had reported the same thing, and it didn't take a scientist to understand why. _They know Jake's with the Omatikaya and they're looking at the drivers and thinking, "They've got a way out and I don't." God, that has the potential to get ugly in a big way. They know that a driver has to be genetically matched to their Avatar, but what if it gets to a point where they think, "If I can't have it, you can't either"? _ Norm covered his face with his hands at the unwelcome thoughts.

He had to take action to head that off immediately, _I'll speak to the other drivers privately. Anything they do in their avatars that benefits the non-drivers has to get brought to everyone's attention, casually of course, and anything else gets kept on the down low. Absolutely no speculating about "pulling a Jake" where any non-driver can hear it. _He snorted to himself in near-disgust, _Not that they aren't thinking of it already anyway. How can I explain to them that it's up to Eywa whether she accepts them or not, when none of them really believe she exists? And __**is**__ it a way out, really, when the RDA is hell bent on genocide? __Aargh!_ Norm reached up and violently scrubbed both hands through his hair in frustration as if he could physically rub the unwanted thoughts out of his head.

He walked across the room to where a small mirror was mounted on the wall and looked into it. _What the hell am I doing? Why am I doing this? Who died and put __**me**__ in charge?" _The last question's answer slapped him across the face as soon as he'd thought it. Norm's shoulders drooped in defeat and sorrow. _Grace did, that's who. No one else was willing to stand up for the Na'vi, for Pandora. No one else was willing to consider that there might be a different way of doing things for us. _After a few moments he straightened up and looked back into the mirror. _She was right. We don't have to live like carrion tearing the last shreds of flesh off of a corpse and then looking for more victims, but we here are the only ones that know that. The Na'vi shouldn't have to pay for the fact that we've been too stupid to live on our own planet without destroying it. __**No one**__ should be paying for our mistakes except us. If we can't learn to be any better than parasites, by God any other race would be __justified_ _in wiping us out! _

He looked down and snorted bitterly, thinking, _I guess we're damned lucky that the first sentient race we encountered wasn't more technologically advanced than we are, or we'd probably have been wiped out already! Not that we've done spectacularly well against 'primitives' so far,_ he mused ironically.

The idea of encountering an advanced race – and being judged by them – occupied his mind for a while. The cosmic 'luck of the draw' they'd gotten made him shudder, but he pulled himself together. _Maybe this is our 'wake up call' from the Universe. Maybe we're getting one last chance to get our act together before something __**does**__ notice us and gets out the 'bug spray.' Jake and Grace both said Eywa is real, and I can't think of anything else that'd cause all the predators on the planet to join forces and do what they did! I have the feeling that Eywa will make sure the Na'vi survive. Maybe She's the one giving us our last chance. Whether it's Eywa or not though, one thing's for sure – we can't afford to waste it. That means we figure out how to live within our means, on our own planet, and we learn it damn fast. _

Norm raised his head and looked out towards the Omatikaya's new Hometree and concluded softly to himself, _And it means that once we learn it we go home and leave Pandora alone. Leave the Na'vi alone._ The synthesized wall in front of his face made him aware of the fact that though durable, it would eventually decay and crumble away. All of Hell's Gate would succumb, in time. Sooner than that, all the humans on Pandora would likely be gone, one way or another.

That recognition made something shift in the scientist's mind. _Not before we get that last chance, though. I'll be damned if I let it all go to hell without giving Earth one more chance to save itself. Not on my watch. Not while I can help it! _He set his jaw and headed out of his office, energized and determined.

He would have been surprised, if anyone had been around to comment on it, how much like Grace he looked just then.


	36. Relationships

Life went on regardless of everyone's tension. The daily routine of life at New Hometree, blessed for its very normalcy, did a lot to keep Jake on an even emotional keel.

On one morning when Neytiri was nearly eight months pregnant he found her snickering when he brought food over to his little family at first meal. He automatically lifted the leaf-plate out of An'ts'it's reach as the boy grabbed for the fruit he knew would be there. Mo'at helped by taking it herself and holding it invitingly. Her grandson willingly settled into her lap in exchange for the treat, leaving Jake and Neytiri to eat in relative peace.

"What's so funny?" the Olo'eyktan asked as he handed his mate a leaf-wrapped parcel of steamed _teylu_ grubs.

Mo'at answered for her daughter, "I saw A'lai on my way down the Tree this morning. She told me that Neytiri will have some new company when the pregnant women gather in the child-watchers' place today."

Jake couldn't imagine whose pregnancy would be cause for such mirth. "Oh? Who?"

Neytiri snickered again and answered "Faralla."

The Olo'eyktan drew a complete blank. The name teased at his memory. He knew he'd heard it before, but the identification stayed just out of reach.

His woman reached for a piece of raw vegetable and filled in the blank for him, "You know, Me'retan's mate."

It took just a moment for Jake to recognize the name of the crippled Na'vi, and then a big grin creased his own face. "And what does Me'retan have to say about that?"

Mo'at snorted, though she was wearing a smile, "What do you think? He's strutting around as proud of himself as a young _nantang_ with its first litter."

Jake laughed, pleased that the former hunter's life was full once again.

Right after they finished breakfast, Jake and Neytiri walked to the center of the cavern under New Hometree while Mo'at took An'ts'it off to wash up and go play. The Olo'eyktan was taking a group of hunter trainees to _Ikinmaya_ this day.

Neytiri got a pleasant surprise when she saw the group of waiting Na'vi. "Natan!" The young man grinned and waved as the _tsahik_ approached. "You have made a clean kill already, then?" she inquired delightedly.

Teekan appeared behind his adopted son and answered, "Several, actually. He's been practicing nearly nonstop for months. Hates to interrupt his target shooting even to eat, and I can't tell you how many times he's fallen asleep with his bow in his hands at night." The man couldn't resist boasting, "He's an even better shot than I am now." The proud father ruffled the young man's head affectionately. "He's ready to take his place in the clan, aren't you my son?"

Natan ducked his head, as pleased and embarrassed as any young man having to endure a publicly crowing parent.

"Well, let's see what we can do about that, shall we?" was Jake's answer as he led them towards the others.

Norm woke up in his avatar just as Jake and his hunter-candidates were heading out for _Ikinmaya._ He was both cheerful and a bit grumpy. He had to spend a little bit of time in his avatar daily of course, but his visits were frequently a lot shorter than he preferred. _I know the administrative stuff is absolutely necessary, but it takes up so much time!_ Today he had decided to 'treat' himself to a full day's shift in his avatar. _And please, God, _ he prayed, _don't let anyone do something stupid enough to get me recalled, just for this one day, please!_

The scientist trotted down the center spiral, eager to eat and get out in the field. He'd been promising to accompany Tanhi on a _lati-_gathering trip for days. He felt a proprietary interest in those trips, since his mint sauce was the primary reason they were needed so frequently. Norm smirked as he sat down and bit into a leaf-wrapped piece of roasted meat. _Everyone knows that picking today means sauce tonight, which means there's going to be a good run on dinner!_

He wolfed down his breakfast and went to the healers' enclave where the Na'vi was waiting for him with a couple of apprentices. They slung fine carry-nets over their shoulders and headed out, picking up an obliging scout to stand guard for them as they left New Hometree. Diligent teaching by his adopted kin had finally cured the scientist of his habit of sounding "like a herd of rampaging _antsik" _as he moved, and they reached an unharvested area of _lati_ bushes after a reasonable amount of time.

Tanhi made assignments, sending pairs to work each clump of bushes. She paired herself with Norm, as usual. Both of them got to work, picking leaves and carefully depositing them in the carry-nets. Conversation was normal during these trips; the scouts would not allow any gatherers to go into an area where large predators had been spotted, and the sound of a number of Na'vi voices was normally enough to make smaller ones go elsewhere.

"So," the healer commented, "you have been spending a great deal of time at the _uniltiratokx_ clan-home recently."

"Yeah," Norm responded as he plucked the end of a branch off, "there's been a lot of work to do there. I haven't been able to spend as much time here as I'd like."

"An Olo'eyktan has many responsibilities. You certainly have more than usual, since your people are being hunted by your own kind, and cannot breathe the air or drink the water here," Tanhi said noncommittally.

The scientist had to fight the urge to give in to instant depression. "You're right, it's hard, but I'm sure it'll all be worth it in the end." He smiled at the Na'vi, "We'll get things taken care of and then the _tawtute_ will stay away for good and the Na'vi won't have to worry about them ever again."

Tanhi's ears twitched back, "You do not sound so sure of that," she observed.

Norm shook his head and smiled ruefully, "Can't get anything past you, can I? Well, let's say that we're going to do our best to make sure of it."

The healer's next statement rocked him back. "And what will you do if you succeed? Will you take your clan back to your injured home and never come back to the Na'vi yourself?"

He blinked in startlement. "Actually, I haven't thought that far ahead. Defeating the _tawtute_ is enough to think about, isn't it?"

She _tsk'ed_ at him. "An Olo'eyktan must think past the hunt, past the battle. He is responsible for the continuation of the clan into the next generation, not for just the immediate problem. You must provide for your clan's future after the _tawtute_ battle so that they will live and stay strong. The life of the clan is everything. Without the clan, no one survives," she concluded firmly.

Norm was quiet for a while. He knew the great importance of the clan to Na'vi society. He knew that group living was necessary on this hostile planet. There were simply too many dangers here for an individual to be able to survive long alone. Something in the healer's tone though made him conscious for the first time of the difference between people who identified themselves as individuals first and those who identified themselves as members of a group first. The simplicity of it stunned him. _My God. Cohesion. Na'vi clans react to things that __are__ – to facts. Facts are the lowest common denominator, for a group. Humans react to things saying 'this is the way I want it.' Facts and desires don't necessarily coincide. That's why the Na'vi say things like "It is decided" when referring to group-affecting issues, instead of us saying "I have decided!"_ The thought was huge. Enormous. He froze with the impact, his mind racing to trace all the implications of the idea.

Tanhi quickly noticed his immobility, "Norm'an? Are you unwell?"

He shook off his paralysis and resumed picking even though his thoughts were running a mile a minute. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thought of something that I want to do later, that's all."

The healer was satisfied with the resumption of activity and went back to her own picking. "We will have a fine batch of _lati_ when we are finished here. You should invite some of your _uniltirantokx_ friends to come eat with us so that they can try it. Is the new one able to speak our language yet?"

Norman was still bemused by the sudden insight and was only paying half attention to the conversation, "No, not yet. She's been spending most of her time teaching my people how to fly the small ship, so she hasn't had a lot of time to learn the language so far."

He was so preoccupied that he didn't notice Tanhi freezing in turn as she asked in a carefully controlled tone of voice, "_**She?**_"

There was a celebration that evening when the Olo'eyktan brought four new _ikran macto_ home with their new mounts. Neytiri gave Natan a huge hug as she admired his golden-bronze new friend.

Teekan was over the moons with glee as a group of Omatikaya brought food and drink for the new _taronyu_ and their beasts. Jake and Neytiri stayed to celebrate with the new riders for a while, but retired early so that the very pregnant tsahik could get some rest.

When the still-boasting parents were well occupied with each other it was the young Na'vis' turn to come admire their peers' accomplishment. All the new hunters were bonded to their mounts to reassure the still nearly-wild animals, so they were of necessity a bit distracted.

Natan was patting his _ikran's_ neck when he heard a girl speak admiringly. "Your friend's color is very beautiful. He is quite wiry, too. I bet he is very agile in the air."

The new hunter turned, pleased by the compliments for his new friend. A young woman wearing the necklace of a healer-apprentice stood before him admiring the _ikran._ "He is very agile, yes. I am sure that he will be very good when we fly together in the _ikran-_games."

The girl smiled shyly, "He will enjoy them greatly, I have no doubt."

Her expression was so warm and appreciative that Natan was charmed without realizing it. "I am Natan, adopted son of Teekan. You must be A'lai's new healer-apprentice?"

She nodded with warmth in her eyes, "Yes, my name is Talli."


	37. Second

It was a joyous day for everyone at New Hometree when Neytiri gave birth to her second child. She woke up early, feeling quite restless, and before the morning hunters' meeting was over one of Alai's apprentices had brought Jake the news that he was wanted _right now. _He had already brought An'ts'it to the child-tenders for the day, so he went directly to the healers' enclave. By midafternoon his mate was happily holding their newborn daughter in her arms.

Mo'at gave the three some time to themselves before fetching her grandson. An'ts'it's eyes got big and round when he saw the tiny person on his mother's chest. Eytukan's mate offered him a small dry washcloth and guided his hand to gently rub it over the baby's back. The little girl let out a squeaking sound that made the boy instantly look at his grandmother in astonishment. The Omatikaya Tsahik smiled and complimented him, motioning to the infant encouragingly. An'ts'it looked at his sister and cautiously extended the hand with the washcloth, barely touching the infant as he moved it over her arm. The baby squirmed, yawned, and promptly went to sleep.

Jake's son grinned in triumph, making the adults laugh. The Olo'eyktan held out his hands and the boy willingly went into his father's arms. "You're a big brother now. _Tsm__ú__kan_," the marine told his son. "You have a little sister," he pointed at the baby, "_Tsmuk__é__."_

An'ts'it copied his father and pointed at the little girl, then looked back in question. Jake nodded and repeated, "_Tsmuk__é__." _

The boy looked at his mother, who also nodded and smiled and said, "_Tsmuk__é__." _

He extended his arms out to Neytiri, wanting to be held. Jake helped his son settle into the crook of his mother's elbow, "Easy there champ, _sa'nu_ is pretty sore right now."

The boy snuggled into his mother's embrace, looked at the baby, then back at her in question. Neytiri was delighted and nodded at her son, murmuring encouragement. An'ts'it' reached up and carefully patted a tiny hand, then settled down for a nap of his own.

The next three months stood out in Jake's mind for years afterwards as a blessed interlude of peace and happiness. He was absolutely enchanted by his elfin-faced daughter, and as a result of her arrival got to spend even more time with the son that he cherished. Every so often he found himself looking at his children and his mate in astonishment that he could ever have taken for granted something so incredible, and yet so common, as a family. Neytiri more than once saw happiness-tears spilling from her beloved's eyes, and needed no explanations.

He would have gladly remained in that idyll for years, but even on Pandora time had a way of speeding past when you'd much rather it crawled. No sooner had Neytiri recovered from the birth, it seemed, that it was time for another clan gathering.

Jake had an uncomfortable feeling of foreboding as he walked the gathering-grounds, making it difficult for him to enjoy the country-fair atmosphere. He managed to lose the dark clouds over his head for just a little while when the Omatikaya _nantang-_ball team scored their first ever triumph. The clouds returned when his victorious players went to celebrate and he had to excuse himself to attend the war council. _A head full of kava will definitely not help me with this meeting! _he thought to himself.

Unable to put away his nerves, he went to the meeting place and did his best to wait patiently for the arrival of the others. He passed some time speaking with Perrat when she showed up, and that helped. He was glad when the rest of the Olo'eyktan and Tsahiks finally arrived, greeting them with a "Thank you for coming, let's begin."

He was as shocked as everyone else when an angry voice shouted out, "No!"

To his dismay he saw Woruo and a group of Green Rock warriors advancing determinedly on the clan leaders' meeting. He got a sick feeling in his stomach when he saw one of the men carrying challenge weapons, the long staffs used to settle disputes by combat.

Woruo strode into the center of the group without hesitation even as Ikariyu stood up in fury. "It is my right to challenge my Olo'eyktan for the leadership of my Clan. I challenge Ikariyu to a leader-fight, here and now in front of all of you." He held one hand out to the side for one of the two staves, and threw it at the man's feet contemptuously.

The Green Rock Olo'eyktan was scarlet with embarrassment and rage, "This is not the time or place for a leadership fight, Woruo. You will go back to Green Rock right now and we will settle this matter between us when I return."

The warrior was even more incensed, "We will settle this now! It is the way! You are a coward Ikariyu. You no longer speak for our clan. Your fear will destroy Green Rock and all Na'vi if it is not stopped. I challenge you here so that all the Clan Leaders can witness who Eywa chooses to be Olo'eyktan of Green Rock. You cannot refuse or walk away from a leadership challenge. Fight me now – or run away like the coward you are and give up the Leadership."

Ikariyu looked around the circle and saw no sympathy in anyone's eyes. Many of the Olo'eyktan present had won or kept their own positions through challenge. As Woruo had said, it was the way – the leaders had to be the strongest of the strong. Green Rock's leader was unable to look Toruk Makto in the face. He knew there would be no sympathy for him there either. In desperation he looked to the Clan Tsahiks, those who were the interpreters of the will of Eywa – and saw nothing to help him in those eyes.

Trapped, he turned to the one person he thought he could count on, the one at his side, "Vireya?"

His woman would not meet his gaze, but said in a clear if trembling voice, "It is the right of any clan member to challenge for the Leadership, at any time. The only choice given is whether to fight – or surrender."

Woruo took his own staff, vindicated, and assumed a fighting stance in the center of the meeting-area; everyone immediately backed up to give the combatants plenty of room. Na'vi were pouring in by the dozens as word quickly spread that a challenge fight was about to commence. Ikariyu was becoming more humiliated and embarrassed by the moment. Fury finally made him bend over and pick up the weapon. He came up with a war cry and swung it at the warrior viciously, and the fight was on.

Woruo had expected such a move, knowing his Olo'eyktan. He blocked the strike with one end of his own staff and pivoted the weapon around its center, striking his opponent solidly in the side of the head with the other end, knocking him off balance and opening a nasty gash. Ikariyu stumbled before recovering then swung the staff again, hoping to slash the warrior. The man was too canny to be caught by such a move. Woruo grounded the butt-end of his own staff to block the clan leader's and used the support to launch himself in a flying kick. He caught Vireya's mate squarely in the chest, knocking the man backwards and off his feet. Both fell to the ground and hastily scrambled up to avoid giving the other any advantage.

Na'vi in the crowd shouted and cheered, egging the combatants on as they began to circle each other and started exchanging staff-blows. Jake was hard-put to stay neutral. He wanted Woruo to win but knew he couldn't interfere in this fight. As Toruk Makto, he was worried that showing any sign of preference for one over the other would be inappropriate. He felt a hand on his arm and turned away from the battle for a moment to see Mo'at's concerned expression and knew his fears were justified. His hands were tied. He nodded at his mother-in-law to reassure her that he was in control of himself and turned his attention back to the fight.

Both Na'vi were sporting wounds now, though none were serious. Ikariyu had a lighter, more wiry build than the sturdy warrior and was at a distinct disadvantage because of it. He'd tried throwing taunts at his challenger, but Woruo was too canny to allow his focus to be distracted or to waste precious breath with words. He launched a flurry of powerful blows against his Olo'eyktan, forcing the man onto the defensive and driving him backwards before binding their staffs and giving a great shove, knocking Ikariyu into the crowd.

Eager hands shoved the Green Rock leader back into the fray. He knew that Woruo would easily outlast him – the warrior had spent months teaching his clansmen Jake's unarmed combat techniques, and had been working to build temporary encampments on top of that. If he was to have any chance at all, he would need to be cunning. Ikariyu paused for a moment, then reversed his staff so that the blade-end was facing forward. Instead of the more common swiping blow he stabbed forward with all his strength – but aimed low.

Woruo roared in rage at the tactic. He sidestepped to avoid the treacherous strike, then brought his staff down on Ikariyu's with such force that the shaft of the Olo'eyktan's weapon snapped. The warrior kept his staff spinning and slammed the blunt end into his opponent's head. Ikariyu lost his grip on the remaining piece of his own weapon while it was still vibrating from the blow that had shattered it. The strike to his head sent him reeling. Filled with righteous fury, Woruo followed up and slammed the Green Rock leader with another hit that knocked the man to the ground. A third hit opened a huge slash across Ikariyu's shoulder. The fourth blow laid him out flat. Ikariyu instinctively cried out and raised one arm to shield himself from another strike when an authoritative shout came from the circle.

"ENOUGH!" commanded Tsahik Sänume of Clan Tipani, the most senior of the Tsahiks present. The crowd immediately silenced itself as she strode forward. "The fight is over. The winner is clear. Eywa has chosen Woruo to be the new Olo'eyktan of Green Rock." There were some cheers from the crowd as the warrior stood up straight and rested the challenge staff at his side.

Without a word, Vireya went to her mate – and removed the Olo'eyktan collar from around his neck. Ikariyu went limp as it left him. The Green Rock Tsahik brought the collar to Woruo, who bent his head to receive it. He straightened up proudly as she draped it over his shoulders then stepped back. The new Olo'eyktan looked out at the crowd and addressed them, "Send _ikran makto_ to Green Rock. Everyone living in the hiding-camps is to be brought back to Hometree immediately. Those who have not begun learning Toruk Makto's fighting-style will do so as soon as I return. I stay here to speak in the War Council on Green Rock's behalf, and will find out from Olo'eyktan Jakesully how our warriors will take part in the battles ahead."

There were whoops among the onlookers, and a handful of Na'vi tore off at top speed, eager to bring the news of the leadership change back to Green Rock.

Sänume gestured peremptorily to one of the healers to attend, saying dryly to Woruo, "We will pause while your wounds are tended first. The War Council needs its leaders focused, not distracted by pain or passing out from blood loss." A chuckle went up from the gathering at the comment, and people started to resume their seats.

Vireya had gone back to her mate, and gently tried to help him up. Jake was concerned when he saw the man angrily pull away from her, rejecting her aid. A couple of Na'vi came forward and got Ikariyu to his feet. The former Olo'eyktan walked painfully away without looking at the Clan Tsahik once. The marine almost lost his resolve to not interfere at the sight of the tears pouring down Vireya's face; her place right now was attending the War Council with the new clan leader, regardless of her desire to be with her mate, or her pain at his rejection. As healers tended to Woruo and the crowd started to disperse, Jake watched the angry and humiliated Na'vi's retreat and wondered how high the cost of this change was going to be.


	38. Ominous

The next to last unobtanium-carrying ISV was unloading its cargo, and the RDA's CEO was worried. Not because of the ship – he'd verified that all the unobtanium that was supposed to be on it was accounted for. He was worried because of a video call he'd just completed that shouldn't have happened. He ran over it in his mind.

His ever-efficient secretary had quite unexpectedly called him on his private intercom during a period of the day when he was not to be disturbed. He'd rarely seen her so much as bat an eye at anything; her imperturbability was near-legendary in the RDA's headquarters. The first warning that something was amiss was in the sound of her voice. She sounded, for the only time he could ever recall, seriously shaken. "Sir, you have a call on your private secure video line."

He'd been surprised, but was more irritated, "I'm busy. Have them call back later."

The second warning had been her response. She'd never in all the time that she had worked for him questioned or even commented on a direct order, "I'm sorry Sir, but I think you really need to take this call."

Startled, he replied, "Very well. Put it through."

The face that appeared on the monitor was ample explanation for his secretary's behavior, "Mr. President, it's an honor."

The man on the screen managed to look both bored and harried. "Yes, of course." He got right to the point, "I see you have an ISV unloading."

The CEO was wary. Such a direct approach was highly unusual. Subtlety, misdirection, innuendo, and reference by implication was the normal way those in positions of power conducted business, especially shady business. That which was never openly named could always be denied, in a court of law if necessary. "Yes we do."

His caller tried to act nonchalantly, but the whisperer noted that the man began cleaning his fingernails – a known nervous habit. "Splendid. No problems, I trust? You had a bit of trouble with the last load, as I recall."

_Is he worried about his cut, or something more?_ the whisperer wondered privately. "We're still working on the adulteration issue from before, and we'll want to do thorough tests on this load just as we did the last." He gave himself a bit of breathing room, "It may cause a minor delay in unobtanium deliveries. We'll certainly be paying full duties and taxes on the shipment immediately, of course."

"Good, good. Anything else going on that I should know about?" the caller inquired.

_What is he fishing for?_ "Nothing that I can think of," was the reply.

The shoe dropped. The President abandoned all pretensions of casualness and glared at the CEO, "Then why haven't you launched an ISV in three years? I'm neither stupid nor uninformed. You've been sending enough high energy components to your shipyard via intermediaries and shell companies to arm a damned dreadnought. Two of your ISVs returned to Earth before they'd gotten half way to Pandora." He all but snarled at the whisperer, "I've been covering your ass for the Project's sake so far, but I am damn well not going to take a fall for you. You bring me in on this all the way, right now, or you lose some very important backing."

There was a long moment of silence. _Well, this isn't totally unexpected,_ the CEO thought once he got his mind in gear again. _After all, the man wouldn't be a Project client if he didn't have __**some**__ brains. I need to set my prot__é__g__é __to work on discovering who the President's sources are regarding the weapons parts – those shouldn't have been traceable. I'll give him the situation on Pandora; the longer he keeps others off of our backs for us, the better. Nothing about the Project, of course. _ He spoke cautiously, in a low tone, "We've been informed that a small group of scientists on Pandora revolted and threw our mining crews off of the planet, then ordered the ISVs less than halfway to the colony to turn back or die in space. Those crews are on an incoming ISV that'll be here in less than two years. We sent an immediate response team that will arrive on Pandora at that time as well. We're retrofitting an ISV to take Hell's Gate back by force, just in case it's needed. We've been passing off the retrofit as a 'proprietary new orbital mining method' that will revolutionize the harvesting of unobtanium. The Venture Pulsar will be ready to launch with a full military complement by the time the Hell's Gate mining crews arrive, and every empty ISV we have will follow it out to Pandora. All we have to do is weather a few lean years until the unobtanium starts flowing again."

The President had leaned back and grown thoughtful at the candid briefing. "And of course you have stockpiles to draw on during those lean years."

A hint of a smile played around the CEO's lips, and he showed a glimpse of his metaphorical teeth, "As do you."

An ironic expression was the response, a salute from one player to another. "I'm sure that a rise in unobtanium prices during those years – carefully controlled, of course, would benefit both our interests."

The whisperer smiled and inclined his head, appearing to concede the point.

The President sat up straight and his tone switched to business. "Have your people contact my chief of staff. I'll arrange access for them to recruit whatever personnel from the military that they want. We'll call it a joint military-private industry research project, eyes only. Send whatever dummy data you have on your "orbital mining method" over and I'll have it classified top secret. That'll give the curious something to divert their attention. We'll delay any news about reduced unobtanium availability for as long as possible before we trot out the 'contamination' story," he glared meaningfully at the whisperer, "and we'll coordinate releases from our mutual stockpiles."

The CEO nodded blandly in response, and the President concluded, "From now on, you keep me in the loop. I'm the one in the best position to cover you on this. Don't forget that."

The screen went dark as the caller signed off, and the whisperer thought to himself, _And you are also expendable, my friend. You already know more than I can afford to allow to be made public. You are in far too deeply to back out at this late date in the game. The moment you begin to distance yourself from the Project is the moment you will die._


	39. New Tree

The next few months were busy ones. Jake did as much as he could to get Woruo up to speed; as he'd half-feared, the former Olo'eyktan hadn't passed much – if any – information gleaned from the War Council meetings on to his clan members. _Only what suited him to,_ Jake thought.

With just about two years left to go until the Venture Comet was to show up, Jake was getting busier. _I'm going to have to call in the nantang-ball, ikran-, and pali-team leaders for strategy training, starting at the next gathering,_ he mused as he sat down in his customary spot for this morning's hunters-meeting. He looked up, sensing motion, and waved at Sir'tey as the senior hunter arrived. The Olo'eyktan waved a greeting.

Sir'tey lifted his chin in acknowledgment of the gesture and had just about gotten into comfortable speaking distance when an overexcited Omatikaya came around the corner, running for them full tilt. Everyone present jumped up and their hands reflexively went to their weapons in reaction to the scout, who ran at them yelling, "Jake! Jake! It has been found!"

The marine strode forward as the scout came to a screeching halt in front of him. "What is it? What's been found?"

The man was panting hard, still wildly excited, "The Tree! The new Tree of Voices! I was out patrolling and I heard crashing noises. I followed them and found a lone wandering _angtsik. _He ran away as soon as he saw me, but as soon as he left he revealed the Tree growing right behind him!"

Jake's head whipped around. Mo'at was moving up behind him. Judging by her wide eyes and the ears laid flat against her head she'd heard every word. He turned to the scout, breaking into his hunting-stride as he ordered, "Take us there!"

The new _Utral Aymokri__ä_wasn't very far, less than a half hour's march from Hometree at a quick trot. Jake had just started thinking about calling for a rest – the poor scout had run all the way back to New Hometree and then turned around and come right back again – when they stumbled into a small clearing that was like any other of dozens that he'd seen in the past four years.

The slim tree was as tall as two Na'vi, and already sported quite a number of finger-thick softly glowing purple strands. For a few long seconds the group just stood still, staring in astonishment. Then Mo'at stepped forward. Everyone respectfully made way for the Clan Tsahik as she approached the Tree.

Jake watched his mother-in-law raise a trembling hand to gently caress the nearest glowing frond and saw it brighten at her touch. The Tsahik went slowly to her knees, still cradling the branch. Everyone in the group caught their breath as Mo'at reached for her queue with her free hand. She closed her eyes as the tendrils of her queue joyously connected to the _Utral Aymokri__ä__. _She gasped.

The Olo'eyktan saw tears begin pouring from the closed eyes and heard Neytiri's mother whisper, "Eytukan..."

Jake turned to the rest of the party, spread his hands wide, and gestured with his chin to indicate to the others to withdraw to give the Tsahik some privacy. They retreated a dozen meters back the way they had come. He gestured to five Na'vi in the group, "Set up a perimeter around the Tree," he instructed in a low voice. "You've got first watch. I'll send a party on _pa'li_ to spell you in a few hours. We'll work out a rotation as soon as we get back." He gestured to two hunters who had their weapons with them, "Scout the area. I don't think anything really dangerous will be this close to New Hometree, but let's make sure." The two nodded and melted into the jungle without a word. Jake looked over the remaining members of the group and gestured to the two that seemed least winded, "As soon as you're rested, head back to New Hometree and spread the word. Tell Neytiri. Everyone will want to come see the new Tree of Voices; she'll know who to send first."

Sir'tey added, "And tell A'tey! There will be a celebration tonight such as we have not seen since Eywa gave us New Hometree."

The master hunter waited until the two had gone and the remaining members of the party had made themselves comfortable, then clapped the Olo'eyktan on the shoulder. "This is a joyous day, my friend. The new home of the Omatikaya is now complete. Eywa smiles on us this day." He spoke in a tone full of satisfaction and relief.

Jake nodded, equally relieved. The three times he'd made _tsaheylu_ with one of the Sacred Trees – four, if you counted the spirit-transfer – had been more than enough to convince him that this connection to Eywa was vital to the well-being of his people. He had an uncomfortable feeling that it would also be playing a huge part when the RDA returned to Pandora too. How, he had no idea. It was just a gut feeling that he had. _And my guts have been pretty damned accurate since I came here,_ he thought to himself.

The former corporal decided to look around a bit when Sir'tey went to sit and wait with the remainder of the party. This spot was about to become Grand Central Station for the Omatikaya, and he wanted to be familiar with it. He prowled around the edges of the area, noting the markers the sentries had set up – a feather lodged in the bark of a tree, a vine with a particular loose knot in it – things that the untrained eye would dismiss. He located and signaled approval to each sentry as he passed.

When he'd marked the third and was almost halfway around the area, he started wondering why it had taken so long to find the new _Utral Aymokri__ä. Well, of course we weren't going to find it until Eywa wanted us to, but why now? I know the Omatikaya seriously need it anyway, even without a war hanging over our heads, but why now? It's two years until the next ship shows up, so everyone will be able to connect to the Tree before then. Is that the only reason?_

His thinking was slow and deliberate, his mind largely paying attention to the area around him. Out in the jungle, awareness of what was around you was the foremost thing in the thoughts of anyone who intended to survive. This was all to the good for Jake; being on hunter-alert sharpened his awareness and forced his mind to consider secondary issues in a slower, more organized fashion.

He mentally shook his head as he considered that last question. Eywa's timing was exquisite, almost millisecond-perfect. _Look how close She called it when the wild ikran showed up! Two more minutes and we'd have been toast. And Neytiri with the angtsik!_ He shuddered and shook his head again, remembering how she'd been seconds away from death when the great hammerhead titanotheres had plowed past her into the SecOps forces. _No, this isn't coincidental. There's a reason Eywa's revealed the Tree now. But what the hell is it?_

Jake passed the fifth sentry. He came within view of Sir'tey and the group of hunters. He could see Mo'at off to his right. His mother-in-law was still in communion with the Tree. The Olo'eyktan started scanning the clearing itself, just to become familiar with the place. A ray of sunlight coming down through the jungle canopy illuminated a patch of ground to Mo'at's left. Something about the size of his fist was reflecting the sunbeam and it caught his attention. He moved a little further forward, and the item revealed itself to be a graphite-gray rock. A very particular type of gray rock.

His jaw dropped as recognition hit. In shock, he scanned the clearing, now looking with purpose. Much of the area was covered with moss and plants, but in spots where they were absent he saw it. Saw it everywhere. _Holy shit! _was his immediate reaction. _Unobtanium! The floor of this clearing is covered with unobtanium!_ A memory slammed into his head with enough force to make him stumble, and he had to grab a tree trunk to keep himself upright. He remembered himself in his human body, in his wheelchair in CNC back at Hell's Gate, listening to Parker Selfridge saying gleefully, "Look at all that cheddar!"

Jake had to sit down before he fell down as realization hit. _Oh my God! They're all like that! All the Trees! __Utral Aymokri__ä, Vitraya Ramunong, the Hometrees, they're all sitting in unobtanium deposits! It's the unobtanium that makes them grow the way they do!_ He thought of all the Clans, each with their own Sacred Tree, many with Hometrees, how all clans held the Tree of Souls to be the center of Eywa's presence on Pandora. In his mind he heard Grace Augustine explaining to the head of the Hell's Gate installation, "It's a network!"

He leaned back and looked up to the sky, mouth open in shock as the final piece of this puzzle fell into place. _They're connected. They're all connected. Oh my God, the unobtanium is Eywa's power grid! It's a power and communications grid, and it's all feeding into the Tree of Souls!_

Mo'at was absorbed in listening to the sound of Eytukan's laughter. It sounded like children were laughing with him, and she was focusing with all her strength on her mate's familiar voice when someone else's laughter 'appeared' right next to his.

She had no idea why she was hearing Grace Augustine laughing.


	40. Purpose

The warriors escorting the morning's Tree of Voices party back to New Hometree were very glad to find Mo'at waiting for them at the scouts' perimeter.

Je'ran swung down off of a _pa'li _carring two other riders and addressed her with concern, "Tsahik, it is the dreamwalker Norm'an. He has not spoken since the Tree of Voices released him. An'nai said he was all right, but that we should bring him to you. He cannot stay on a pa'li by himself…." The warrior gestured to the scientist, who was swaying slightly even though the direhorse was standing still.

Mo'at reassured the man, "Leave him with me, I will take care of him."

The warriors had to assist Norm to dismount. He was looking at his surroundings wide-eyed, as though astonished by everything he was seeing. His eyes went marginally wider when he was brought before the Tsahik.

Eytukan's mate suppressed a smile as she helped him to sit and waved the party onward. When the riders were gone she sat next to him and broke his apparent fascination with her appearance by pulling a fruit from the small net she carried and placing it in his hands. He simply looked at it for a few minutes, as astonished by it as much as by everything else he saw.

Neytiri's mother started bringing the dreamwalker's spirit back from Eywa's embrace by speaking to him quietly, "Now you See why we thank everything that assists our lives with their own."

The words broke into Norm's reverie and he looked up at her again. She nodded encouragingly at the fruit. He paused for a long moment before biting into it hesitantly, as if he'd never eaten one before and had no idea what to expect.

The Tsahik stayed silent until he finished eating before speaking quietly again. "I have been considering the All Mother's purpose in allowing the _tawtute_ to come here. She is certainly powerful enough to have prevented your people from landing here at all, if that was Her will. The Tsahiks of the other clans have not been able to See past that knowledge, and I was unable to either, until I heard Eytukan's voice again."

Mo'at looked at Norm to make sure she had his attention still. He was captivated by her words, so she continued. "It is clear to me now that Eywa _wanted_ your people to come here. Why, I do not yet know. I believe that you and your dreamwalkers are the key to Her purpose. I believe that this is why She permits you to be here, but I do not know what She intends you to do."

She looked out into the jungle, "Jake is a warrior. The Na'vi understand what he is. The purpose of a warrior – to defend the people – is clear to us. He was the easiest one of your people for the Na'vi to accept, because we know what he is. Her intent as far as Jake is concerned is clear to me; Eywa intends him to protect the Na'vi. He has a great task ahead of him, and She has given him only what he needs to know for now, because giving him any more than that would distract him from that task."

Mo'at turned back to the scientist. "What She intends for you to do is less clear. You are not a warrior. You are one who learns things and brings that knowledge back to your People, as our Singers learn the songs of other clans and bring them back to us. I think as you and Jake do, that you are here because Eywa wishes you to learn something that she intends you to bring back to your own People."

She sighed, "What that is, and why, I cannot say. I am certain that what She has given you today has to do with Her purpose in allowing you to be here. It may well be that you will have to make _tsaheylu_ with _Utral Amokriya_ a number of times before you will be able to hold the entire gift she has to give you. When you have all of it, perhaps you will be able to See how it answers the need of your People, how it might cure the insanity of those who still live where you came from."

The Tsahik smiled at the scientist, "I can See that She has given you much." She gestured at the jungle ahead of them, "You look at all things with the wonder of a child that has just made its first _tsaheylu._ I know that this is not the way your people See things, so perhaps you do not even have the words for what you now See."

Neytiri's mother sobered and reached out to touch Norm on the arm, "I have the words that you need. I believe that we must work together to help you understand what Eywa wishes you to know, and quickly. It is better for both your people and mine that this gift is given before those who would silence it can act." She drew back and added, "I ask only that you speak of this with me and not with Jake. He does not yet have the understandings you need, and if you distract him from his work to protect us all then both our Peoples will suffer."

Mo'at's words had the desired effect. Norm definitely felt more 'present' now, not enveloped in the dreamlike state he'd been when the Tree of Voices had released him. Still, talking was difficult. He'd thought he had a fair command of the Na'vi language after all the years he'd been speaking it. Now he realized that almost every word he spoke had dimensions and nuances that he'd been completely unaware of. He'd nearly been speaking pidgin all along, without being aware of it. Now, having had his first experience with the wider reality of the relationship between the Na'vi and Eywa, he had to rethink and reframe almost every word if he was going to successfully wrap his mind around it all.

Haltingly, as if learning the language anew, he spoke with Mo'at and began to learn.


	41. Synopsis

So everyone had their marching orders. The games Jake had taught the Na'vi spread like wildfire – he even received a message saying that the White Mountain Clan was adapting the games to suit their own circumstances (and Kiree received a toy made of bone, as a gift from Ta'sit's new child to her own future offspring.) Woruo worked with Green Rock like a man possessed to get his clan up to speed with Toruk Makto's battle plan, to the great relief of most of his clanmates. Jake worked as hard as the Omatikaya would let him, and worried the rest of the time. He was also ecstatic about his son and daughter and spent as much time as possible with them every day. Neytiri was thrilled with her children and grew into her clan role until she was virtually co-Tsahik with her mother.

Surprisingly, Jake even became somewhat friendly with Sarah (once he got over his initial attitude.) The engineer's military background gave them more depth and resources that Jake desperately needed – there wasn't anyone else at Hells Gate with any military experience.

The scientists at Hells Gate were greatly relieved that they now had a food supply that the RDA couldn't touch. The Sea Clan sent two entire ikran game teams loaded with fish, and the chemistry lab guys were gleefully synthesizing vitamin C by the pound to process it. Being reminded of all the 'regular folks' back on Earth who were depending on them to find a solution to their polluted planet had renewed their determination. Thankfully, the fact that the Avatar team was responsible for providing the new food supply wasn't lost on the base inhabitants, and Norman was greatly relieved to find the muttering about the drivers dying away to nearly nothing. Dave Robinson was hard put to contain his frustration at the cryptic message he'd received, and it didn't take too many 'chance' encounters to convince him that trying to win Dr. Evans to his side was a lost cause.

When Jake privately shared his revelation regarding the distribution of unobtanium on the planet and its correspondence with the Great Trees with Norm, it left the scientist completely tongue-tied for a full five minutes. The ears of his avatar body were practically glued to his head in dread. "You know what this would mean to the RDA, don't you Jake?"

The Olo'eyktan nodded grimly. "If they find out, it gives them a map to every single significant unobtanium deposit on the planet."

To his great credit, the xenoanthropologist replied, "And that means every single clan on Pandora will eventually be targeted."

Jake almost snarled, "Meaning the old Green Rock Olo'eyktan and every other one who thinks like him is dead wrong."

Norm reached out and touched his friend's arm, "But now we can prove it to them! Let me have Max run a correlation between the unobtanium mapping database and the Avatar Project's clan locations just to be sure."

"One thing I haven't figured out is why the differences between the Trees?" the marine thought out loud. "I mean, each clan has a Sacred Tree in their territory, and a lot of clans have Hometrees too. Why two different kinds? Why do some have only one kind and others have both?"

The scientist pondered, "It could be that there are two major isotopes of unobtanium. One leads to the growth of Sacred Trees – trees with connections to Eywa's neural network - and the other leads to Hometrees. The RDA 's only been interested in what they can use for energy generation. They haven't cared about any fine distinctions as long as it all burns. To really get us an answer on this I'd need to bring the Geology guys in, but is that something we really want to do? I mean, they're not in very good odor with the Na'vi, to say the least."

The expression on Jake's face suggested that he was trying to swallow a _kali'weya._ "I don't like it myself, but we might not have any choice. If we could figure out a way to be able to communicate with Eywa at our discretion from anywhere on the planet, at any time, that would be huge."

"Beyond huge," Norm agreed.

"But you're right about not letting just anybody in on this too. Have Max run his report. Then we'll have to figure out how we can use it to communicate with Eywa. Maybe Mo'at can help with that," the Olo'eyktan thought out loud.

The scientist mused, "I'll go over all of Grace's notes and see if anything relevant jumps out at me. We'll have to think about who in Geology will be able to help with this. It isn't going to be a garden-variety problem; there may only be one or two of them capable of extrapolating geological data into neurological effects."

The science talk was starting to get past Jake. "You do what you think best. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."


End file.
